71 The Alabama Lawyer 228 (2010). The VLP and The Scoundrel Relatives.

• Author: By Pamela H. Bucy

Alabama Lawyer

2010.

71 The Alabama Lawyer 228 (2010).

The VLP and The Scoundrel Relatives

The VLP and The Scoundrel RelativesBy Pamela H. Bucy"This wasn't my first rodeo.And it was a fight I wanted to win." This is how Jimmy Knight described his first Volunteer Lawyers Program ("VLP") case. It was a good thing for Knight's VLP client, Mrs. Anderson(fn1) that he was tenacious and experienced. Like many cases, this one began after the case was won.

Jimmy Knight, who began practicing law in 1962, signed up with the Volunteer Lawyers Program after hearing about the program at a bar luncheon. Started in 1991, the Alabama State Bar's VLP recruits lawyers throughout the state to provide, pro bono, up to 20 hours of legal services per year for those who cannot afford them.(fn2) Offices of Legal Services Alabama screen cases that come to their offices to determine if those cases are appropriate for referral to VLP attorneys. Cases which meet the following criteria are eligible for referral to the VLP: (1) the case involves certain issues of law(fn3) and (2) the case is simple and straightforward and appears to be resolvable within 20 hours or less.(fn4) In Alabama, 23 percent of licensed attorneys are volunteers in the VLP.(fn5)

A couple of years after enrolling in the VLP, Knight received his first case. His client was deaf. Communicating with her was not easy. To do so, Knight's assistant, Sara Carden, contacted an interpreting service in Birmingham. The service telephoned Mrs. Anderson and gave her messages through video equipment and sign language. Even with this interpreting service, however, it was difficult for Knight to communicate with his client and for his client to appear in court on all of the occasions needed.

Mrs. Anderson's case arose when her paternal grandfather passed away, leaving property to his heirs. Mrs. Anderson was the illegitimate offspring of a father who was deceased. Upon her grandfather's death, some of the grandfather's heirs argued that Mrs. Anderson was not a rightful heir.

Mrs. Anderson's grandfather had five children, including her father. The other four children, all adults, were still alive. Two of the four supported Mrs. Anderson, agreeing that she should be included in the distribution of the grandfather's estate. Two of the four, who were also the executors of the estate, opposed...