Legal Grounds Wisconsin®
Online Start-Up Toolkit
Creating a Program from the "Grounds" Up
Developed by Attorneys Erin and Brynne McBride
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Online Resources
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Legal Grounds Wisconsin® is a free Legal Coffeehouse where volunteer attorneys answer brief questions on legal issues such as Family Law, Landlord Tenant matters, or Utilities over a complimentary cup of Starbucks™ coffee.
The Wisconsin Judicare Program maintains a website at www.judicare.org. Legal Grounds Wisconsin® can be found hosted on that website at the following link: Coffeehouse.
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Starting a volunteer legal clinic from scratch takes a lot of work and requires some basic resources. The most important first step is to "get organized." Start by writing out your initial thoughts and broad answers to the following questions. In the planning process that follows you will fully develop the concepts you start with here:
Once you have answered the basic organizational questions, you need to investigate the needs of the potential coffeehouse patrons. You will be looking for: challenges and problems for the population you wish to reach, existing programs, and gaps in service. The goal is to get a "big picture" view of what is happening in the community. Your assessment can include input from community leaders, community action programs, agencies, non-profits, etc. You may find your coffeehouse will provide legal information on only housing and landlord-tenant relations, or there may be a need for consumer and elder law information. The needs assessment stage is ongoing and dynamic.
Any initial solicitation of input from community leaders, partner organizations and stakeholders in the planning process will require a small group of continually involved committee members. This committee will conduct basic functions: volunteer recruitment, monitoring and rewarding, assessing coffeehouse needs (materials, brochures, additional hours) and will be the liaison to the local bar association.
Your program will frequently be asked the questions, "Why are you here; What do you do?" A brief, prepared "mission statement" can make your short-term and long-term program goals much easier. Are you starting a program to serve more low-income persons in your county? ...to increase access to justice? ...to facilitate legal conversation? ...to assist persons in filling in pro se divorce forms? This mission, like the needs assessment process, is dynamic.
Once you have a mission statement, it will be easier to complete a program proposal. Taking the time to write a proposal will help your project in many ways. First, it will help organize resource/funding development. Second, it will force you to consider all the resources you will need to implement your program. Third, it will help your program stay focused. Finally, developing a program proposal will assist in the completion of a "press kit." The goal of any program proposal is to demonstrate that you have carefully thought out your program and are accountable to those who provide support for your program.
Legal Grounds Wisconsin® Project Proposal
The first step in creating a high-quality relationship between coffeehouse patrons and those giving legal advice/information, is finding appropriate and suitable individuals committed to volunteering for your program. It is important for your program to have a recruitment tool in mind, to target the specific population of volunteers you are hoping to attract. You may have attorneys or paralegals in mind who can address different needs of different coffeehouse patrons.
SCR 20:6.1 Pro bono publico service
A lawyer should render public interest legal service. A lawyer may discharge this responsibility by providing professional services at no fee or a reduced fee to persons of limited means or to public service or charitable groups or organizations, by service in activities for improving the law, the legal system or the legal profession, and by financial support for organizations that provide legal services to persons of limited means.
Members of the Judiciary are exceptionally well positioned to encourage participation in local volunteer lawyer programs. Judges are able to set the tone within the legal profession that pro bono is a central part of fulfilling the promise of justice for all, by celebrating the contribution of an individual attorney or facilitating the operation of a local bar association project. Judges play a key role in ensuring the success of programs that fill the justice gaps in our society, make justice accessible, and foster an individual attorney’s personal, ethical commitment to do pro bono work. While many Judges have been instrumental in supporting pro bono programs around the state, more bench involvement is always respected.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of ways in which Judges can contribute to the delivery of pro bono services:
Scheduling can be as easy as having a sign-up sheet at a central location, or with the project planning committee. Once you have determined your coffeehouse's listed hours, you can start filling in a plan of attorney attendance. Be sure to allow flexibility for attorney cancellations or contingencies. Also, have flexibility for a volunteer attorney, should a conflict of interest arise at the project location. Listservs, websites and newsletters can publish the project schedule and appointed volunteers for each time block.
The fun portion of the project, beyond delivering legal advice/information in a new model, is for the attorney to play the dual role of counselor and "server." Volunteers will be setting up coffeemakers, sugar and creamers, brewing pots of coffee, serving coffeehouse patrons, giving legal advice/information, and cleaning-up after the patrons leave.
The legal profession alone cannot solve the problem of adequate representation of the poor, but small, creative projects provide efficient, enjoyable use of attorneys’ limited free time.
By necessity, people have been increasingly emphasizing expansion of pro bono legal services through various policy and delivery options. In his Report to Wisconsin Board of Governors, Earl H. Munson went so far as to say “Pro bono is a declining part of most lawyers’ work, even as leaders of the organized bar exhort them to help provide Wisconsin’s poor with this drastically needed legal service." See: Mandatory Pro Bono Reporting, It’s Like Telling The Emperor That He Wears No Clothes, October 2002. (Article available at: www.wisbar.org.)
Studies have found that nationally, pro bono services to the poor represent fewer than one percent of lawyers’ working hours. (Remarks by Gene R. Nichol, Dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law, citing the findings of a study by the New York State Bar Association.) Couple that with the Wisconsin Equal Justice Coalition's findings that over 500,000 Wisconsin residents live in poverty. Due to desperate financial situations, these residents cannot afford a lawyer when faced with pressing legal problems.
The gap between the legal needs of the poor and the resources available to meet those needs is growing dramatically. Wisconsin’s civil legal services programs provide assistance to approximately 20,000 low-income people each year. However, legal services programs must frequently turn away many more needy families because the agencies themselves lack the resources or are bound by federal regulations. Estimates suggest that the State of Wisconsin has one attorney for every 414 citizens, but only one legal services attorney for every 8,476 low-income citizens.
Innovative volunteer lawyer projects are a "win-win" for Wisconsin!
Volunteers are the single most important asset to the success of coffeehouse model programs. With the time and energy it takes to recruit and schedule volunteers, and the time the volunteers are taking to adapt their personal work and family schedules, it is imperative that your program develop and implement a support system for these volunteers. They need to be formally thanked, recognized often, and involved in the public recognition of the program itself. These methods not only help retain and attract new volunteers, but also increase community awareness of the program. It takes the contributions of many people to make community programs a success. Likewise, recognition of contributions made by agencies or businesses, either financial or material, goes a long way.
Press releases, community calendars, newspapers, TV news (noon shows or early morning shows), radio, chamber of commerce, public libraries, community agencies
See Legal Grounds Wisconsin® in the news: Legal Grounds Wisconsin® in the Media
Develop your own coffeehouse website where announcements, press releases, news, schedules and volunteer information can be found. The website should also contain the location of your coffeehouse, directions, and a map on how to get there.
See Legal Grounds Wisconsin's® website: Legal Grounds Wisconsin®
Flyers, posters, signs, coffeehouse newsletters, agency/community/organization newsletters
See Legal Grounds Wisconsin® newsletter samples: The Scoop Newsletter
Word of mouth, referral sources, Legal Service Offices, Community Action Programs, meal sites
Magnets, pens, coffee mugs, travel mugs, stickers/labels
Grand opening celebration, anniversary celebrations, exhibits, fairs, commercials, agency forums, United Way forums, other agency exhibit fairs
See Legal Grounds Wisconsin's® open house press coverage: Merrill Percolates Partnership
Whatever form your coffeehouse takes, it is always essential to "get the word out" about activities, needs and goals of your project. Through planned media relations, local media can be an effective "partner." Local radio, television, and daily/community newspapers want to report on what is happening in their communities. If your story is told properly, media relations will serve several purposes: it will help attract necessary volunteer assistance for the work to be done, it will give other people ideas for projects to improve their own situations (legal or familial), it will foster some sense of pride in the community, and advertise specific details and logistics of your program.
A news release invites media coverage of the news it contains.
You could use a news release for:
You may get calls for interviews or more information. Spokespersons should be available to answer these calls. The project planning committee can serve this role, as long as there is a consistent and efficient description of the program and goals. If you are having an open house or "grand opening event," invite reporters/media to the event. Have an individual handy to answer questions and provide an "on the air" statement.
You need to have something newsworthy to say. For instance:
While media relations planning can be an integral part of any project, don't start making phone calls or issuing news releases until all details have been nailed down:
Before meeting with members of the media, it's important to be organized. Have all aspects of your announcement or event ready, and anticipate questions that may be asked. If you can't answer a question on the spot, have a phone number or website handy where answers can be obtained. This type of media interview is most likely on morning or noon local tv shows.
Good relationships with your project sponsors, volunteers, contributors and donors will be enhanced by acknowledging them in public at every opportunity.
Last Updated: April 13, 2008
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Disclaimer of Liability
Wisconsin Judicare, Inc. provides the information on this Web site as a public service to low-income persons in northern Wisconsin, our participating attorneys, card issuers, and other Internet users. While the information on this site is about legal issues, it is not legal advice. Laws vary from state to state and even federal laws may be applied differently in different states. Moreover, due to the rapidly changing nature of the law and our reliance upon information provided by outside sources, Wisconsin Judicare makes no warranty or guarantee concerning the accuracy or reliability of the content at this site or at other sites to which Judicare.org links.
