Harnessing the Power of Community Through Pop-up Legal Clinics

• Year: 2025
• Citation: Vol. 30 No. 4 Pg. 0068
• Pages: 0068

Harnessing the Power of Community Through Pop-Up Legal Clinics Vol. 30 No. 4 Pg. 68 Georgia Bar Journal May 2025

GBJ | Pro Bono

The pop-up clinic model serves to minimize the justice gap by offering a discrete and manageable way for attorneys to fulfill their professional duty to provide pro bono legal service.

BY ELIZABETH M. GRANT AND CHRISTINE M. SCARTZ

Volunteers and judges at a pop-up clinic at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Athens.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA SCHOOL OF LAW

On an unseasonably hot spring day in Athens-Clarke County, the line to get into the Athens Access to Justice Initiative (AAJI) Pop-Up Legal Clinic stretched out the door well before the 9 a.m. start time. A young woman with two active children stood in line clutching a child support order from her previous divorce. Worry was etched across her face as she and her children were close to eviction because her ex-husband had refused to pay child support for nearly a year. Earlier that week she had gone to the clerk's office asking questions about enforcing the order. The sympathetic clerk had explained that their office could not give her any legal advice, but she could meet with an attorney for free the following Saturday morning at a local church.

Shortly after completing a brief intake when the doors opened, the young mother sat across a small table from an experienced family law attorney whose normal hourly fee was well out of her financial reach. Accompanying the attorney was a law student picking up client interview skills and learning procedures in a hands-on, real-time environment. The woman's children were just a few feet away making crafts with student volunteers from a local school. The mother was nervous, but when she finished telling her story, the attorney smiled. "I know just how to help you." In less than an hour, the attorney had reviewed her divorce documents, searched for additional case history on the court docket, helped die woman draft a contempt petition to file pro se, and had her verification signed by a notary. The woman's initial worry transformed to hope as she had gained a better understanding of her legal rights and had the tools she needed to enforce those rights.

Since 2017, the AAJI has put on more than 50 legal clinics that "pop-up" at various times and locations to offer hope alongside legal advice to thousands of people just like the woman above. The initiative is an informal collaboration of the Athens-Clarke County Courts, Western Judicial Circuit Bar Association, University of Georgia (UGA) School of Law and Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP).^[1] Dozens of attorneys from every specialty and every level of practice experience have volunteered at anywhere from one to all of the clinics. More recently, the pop-up clinic model was expanded to Troup County, which hosted two successful clinics, one in 2023 and one in 2024.^[2] This article breaks down the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of the clinics, with a focus on the power of the community to meet unserved legal needs.

Who

Pop-up clinics involve the whole community. Churches, community organizations, libraries and businesses such as Goodwill host clinics for free or for a nominal fee. Clinic volunteers provide coffee, water and snacks for attendees. In Athens, a paralegal from a local law firm serves as a part-time clinic coordinator and receives a small stipend from donations to the local bar association. The Athens-Clarke County clerk of court sends clerks to help with intake. In LaGrange, the Troup County Court administrator organizes the clinics and pays costs through the Troup County Law Library. In both Athens and LaGrange, private attorneys, UGA Law clinical faculty, GLSP attorneys and public defenders volunteer to give free legal advice. Paralegals and interpreters from the communities assist attorneys and attendees where needed. Finally, UGA Law and undergraduate students volunteer in various capacities that expose them to the value of pro bono service and introduce them to local attorneys.

Additionally, local judges often attend pop-up clinics. In Athens, they greet participants at the start of the clinic and provide general explanations of the jurisdictions of the various courts. While they obviously cannot give substantive legal advice or speak about individual cases, the judges can answer procedural questions, which helps to humanize a system that is often confusing and intimidating.

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