Answering the pro bono call

• Author: Amanda Robert
• Pages: 58-59

PHOTO BY DANIEL DURAN

your Aba

EDITED BY LEE RAWLES

LEE.RAWLES@AMERICANBAR.ORG

ANSWERING THE

Texas lawyer is the top volunteer for ABA’s

free online legal aid clinic By Amanda Robert

PRO BONO CALL

Jack Fan was scrolling through the Texas Legal

Answers website one day when he came across a ques-

tion about whether homebrew beer can be bartered.

Fan, a sole practitioner in Dallas who does estate

planning, probate and family law , says his initial reac-

tion was that he had no idea—but then he went down

the rabbit hole of legal questions.

He looked up applicable state statutes, and after a

few minutes of online research, responded to the per-

son who posted the question. He advised that bartering

nominal amounts of homebrew beer was acceptable,

but it shouldn’t become a primary source of income.

Fan also provided contact information for the Texas

Alcoholic Beverage Commission , so the poster could

confi rm his interpretation of the law.

“Some people ask some really bizarre questions from

left fi eld, but I go and start researching,” he says. “It

makes me a better lawyer, being more knowledgeable.”

Fan has spent a fair share of his time fi elding ques-

tions since he began volunteering with Texas Legal

Answers, part of the ABA’s Free Legal Answers virtual

legal aid clinic. The service allows income-eligible cli-

ents to post civil legal questions for pro bono attorneys

in their state.

According to the ABA Standing Committee on Pro

Bono and Public Service, which annually recognizes

attorneys who pro-

vide extraordinary

pro bono services

through Free Legal

Answers, Fan has

answered more

questions than

any other attorney

in the country. In

2018, he responded

to nearly 1,100 of

them.

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