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Join us for the 19th Annual AVLF Winetasting!
Recent News
DV Project conducted training seminar for new volunteers interested in representing survivors of intimate partner violence in civil temporary protective order hearings.Read more...
AVLF has received a grant of $60,000 from the Georgia Bar Foundation for its Domestic Violence and One Child One Lawyer Program. "We are so grateful to receive this award from the Georgia Bar," says Executive Director Martin Ellin. Read more...
Safe Families M.O.U. renewed! Click here to learn more...
Elizabeth Whipple joins AVLF as a full-time staff attorney with the Domestic Violence Project. Read more...
AVLF hosts 1 hour wills, health-care directive, and power of attorney seminar to 60+ residents of Calvin Courts. Read more...
Vivian Huelgo, Chief Counsel for the American Bar Associations Commission on Domestic Violence, visited the Safe Families Office on July 9th, 2009. Impressed by the collaborative, client-centered approach, Ms. Huelgo indicated that this is a "model best practices" program!
AVLF is pleased to announce that two Fulton County Health and Human Services Grants have been awarded to the organization: $25,000 to support the Domestic Violence/Safe Families Office, and $25,000 for the Housing Advocacy and Resource Center.
AVLF's Saturday Lawyer Program announces new intake hours: Monday - Thursday 9:00am to 1:00pm. Learn more about the Saturday Lawyer Program here.
Lila Bradley is the new Director of our Guardian ad Litem Program. Our former Director, Dawn Smith, has left the Foundation and has begun private practice with the Altanta law firm of Boyd Collar Nolen & Tuggle. Read more...
AVLF Executive Director, Marty Ellin, was honored with The President's Award by the North Fulton Bar Association. Read more...
AVLF Executive Director, Marty Ellin, was presented with the Anti-Defamation League's Elbert P. Tuttle Jurisprudence Award!
Read more...
Learn about a new law that protects tenants who live in a property that has been sold at foreclosure by clicking here.
After a couple of months hiatus, our popular Saturday Lawyer Program is back and better than ever. If you are interested in learning more about how to volunteer, either as a Saturday Morning Intake Volunteer or as a Full Representation Volunteer, please click here.
This year, the 19th Annual AVLF Winetasting, our signature fundraiser and an ongoing demonstration of the community’s commitment to pro bono legal work, will take place on Thursday, November 4, 2010 at the beautiful new offices of Seyfarth Shaw.
Dubbed "the legal community's best party of the year", friends of the Foundation participate in the Winetasting because the funds raised through the event are a critical part of AVLF’s ability to promote equal access to justice in Atlanta. But they also know- and you will learn- that this is also a terrific party, one that kicks off the holiday season with style and pleasure!
Solo and small firm practitioners serve a very important role in supporting AVLF’s mission to address the unmet civil legal needs of low-income people in the Atlanta community. The success of our Saturday Lawyer Program, for example, depends on the volunteer services of at least one solo or small firm attorney every Saturday morning that the program is operating to represent clients with debt, wage and housing disputes who cannot be represented by lawyers from larger firms.
Chris Armor contacted AVLF early in the spring looking for any way he could be of service to AVLF’s clients, especially in the area of consumer debt. He enthusiastically signed up for the first Saturday Lawyer program conducted under AVLF’s new program model, February 20, 2010, and subsequently signed on for two additional Saturdays in the following three months!
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Volunteer Spotlight
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Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation -Suite 1750 North Tower · 235 Peachtree Street N.E. · Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Overview
What is AVLF?
The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Inc. was created in 1979 through the joint efforts of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, the Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers and the Gate City Bar Association to offer lawyers an opportunity to provide civil legal representation for the poor. Since then, AVLF has provided representation for indigent clients through the efforts of volunteer private attorneys, its student clinical program and various outreach programs.
Why was AVLF Created?
Prominent members of the Atlanta legal community recognized two very important things. First, no matter how many excellent lawyers Atlanta Legal Aid and other service organizations added to their staffs, it would never be enough to meet the need for legal assistance to low-income citizens of Fulton County, and that it is up to the private Bar to cover as much of the gap as possible. Equally importantly, lawyers in private practice recognized that every attorney has an obligation to support the notion of equal access to justice, and that participation in pro bono work not only gives necessary help to clients in need but also promotes the highest goals of the legal profession.
What is AVLF's Mission and Vision?
The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation develops and coordinates programs that provide legal representation, education and advocacy for at-risk, low income individuals by tapping the enthusiasm and commitment of volunteer legal professionals to address the unmet civil legal needs in the Atlanta community.
Our five-year vision is that the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation is the leader in leveraging the full power, resources and passion of the legal community so that people in greater Atlanta are not deprived of basic civil legal needs without the benefit of a lawyer.
How Does AVLF Work?
Those who call AVLF seeking pro bono legal assistance are screened by AVLF staff to ensure financial and geographical eligibility. Callers who are not eligible for AVLF’s assistance, or who cannot otherwise be assisted by the Foundation, are directed to known resources throughout the community. For those clients who do qualify, case review is conducted prior to referral to a volunteer lawyer to ensure that the client has an appropriate legal problem. Referrals to volunteer attorneys are made using procedures to suit the needs of the individual lawyer. Back-up attorneys and paralegals are available to provide assistance to volunteer lawyers. Litigation services such as court reporters or expert witnesses may be obtained pro bono, or with prior approval of the AVLF Executive Director will be reimbursed. Primary malpractice insurance is in place to the volunteer lawyer for each case referred through Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation.
Learn about our programs:
-One child, One lawyer
-Guardian Ad Litem
-Unpaid wages
-Consumer debt
-Landlord-tenant disputes
Other useful links:
Martin L. Ellin, Executive Director
mellin_avlf.org
Martin L. Ellin has served as the Executive Director of the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation since 2001.
Marty began his legal career as a staff and then managing attorney with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. Nearly 20 years of private practice followed, the last eight with the firm of Zimring & Ellin litigating education law and civil rights claims.
Throughout his years in private practice, Marty was also an active mediator, mediating several hundred claims for federal agencies, the local court systems and private litigants. In 1999, Marty left private practice to promote alternative dispute resolution full time as the Director of Legal Services for the Justice Center of Atlanta.
It is unlikely that anything other than the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation could have pulled Marty back into the active practice of law, but Marty had admired the Foundation since its inception and his strong commitment to service to the poor and working poor of greater Atlanta through the generosity of the private Bar made the chance to promote equal access to civil justice irresistible.
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Meet the rest of the AVLF Staff. (Please click on employee's name to read bio.)
AVLF Board of Directors
The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation Board of Directors is a diverse group of legal and business leaders actively setting and supporting the strategic vision of the Foundation. The Board membership consists of as many as eighteen Officers and other At large Members and six Standing Members (the Chief Judge or her/his designee from the Fulton Superior and State Courts, the Executive Director of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and the Presidents of the Atlanta Bar Association, the Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers and the Gate City Bar).
In 1995, AVLF Board of Directors voted to increase its size from 15 to 20 members, in part to reflect
AVLF's growth and in part to create two new positions for community professionals whose constituencies were likely to be eligible for AVLF's services. The Board composition now consists of nine "at large" seats, six "ex officio" positions (one judge from each of Fulton State and Superior Courts, the director of Atlanta Legal Aid, the presidents of the Atlanta Bar, Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers and Gate City Bar), three positions for a person "active" in each of those bar associations, and two community professionals.
In keeping with the change in leadership of the Atlanta Bar Association, AVLF has traditionally elected its board members in May, although AVLF's fiscal year concludes at the end of December.
• Tina Shadix Roddenbery, President - Holland Schaeffer Roddenbery Blitch, LLP
• Samuel Choy, Vice President – McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
• Jim Gober, Treasurer - Arnall, Golden, Gregory LLP
• Avital Stadler, Secretary- Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
• Vickie S. Sadler, Executive Committee Member, Adorno & Yoss, LLC
• Joel Neuman, Immediate Past President - The Coca-Cola Company
• Honorable Wendy Shoob, Superior Court Fulton County
• Honorable John Mather, State Court Fulton County
• Matthew W. Clarke, Smith, Gambrell & Russell LLP
• Jonathon A. Fligg, Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, PLLC
• Angela Frazier, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP
• Steven Gottlieb, Executive Director, Atlanta Legal Aid Society
• Shukura Ingram, Thomas, Kennedy, Sampson & Patterson, LLP
• Kellyn O. McGee, State Bar of Georgia
• Paul Murphy, King & Spalding LLP
• Valerie Njiiri, Hunton & Williams LLP
• Andrea Rimer, Troutman Sanders LLP
• Margaret Ward Scott, Alston & Bird LLP
• Chelton Tanger, PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Michael Terry, Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP
• Steven A. Wagner, Berman, Fink, Van Horne, PC
• Nyoka White, Community Member
• W. Scott Wright, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
• Kristen L. Yarbou, Global Payments, Inc.
AVLF Advisory Board
AVLF's Advisory Board is made up of volunteers from many of the top law firms in Atlanta. We are grateful for their ongoing support and assistance.
Meet our Staff
Tamara Serwer Caldas, Managing Attorney - tcaldas_avlf.org
Tamara has served as the managing attorney at AVLF since 2005, where she has focused primarily on housing and consumer projects. Immediately prior to joining AVLF, Tamara worked with clients building families through adoption and reproductive technology at Claiborne, Outman & Surmay, P.C. From 1998-2004, Tamara was at the Southern Center for Human Rights advocating for the civil and human rights of prisoners in Alabama and Georgia in state and federal court. Tamara is a graduate of Princeton University in 1992 and the University of Texas School of Law and LBJ School of Public Affairs in 1997. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Martha Craig Daughtrey of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
She loves all types of dance and spending time with her family.
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Jennifer Stolarski, Director of Domestic Violence Project - jstolarski_avlf.org
Jenni Stolarski received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1999. Jenni has focused her legal career on working with survivors of intimate partner violence, gaining deep experience with both the criminal and civil justice systems. From 1999 to 2002, she was a staff attorney with Georgia Legal Services, where she represented low-income domestic violence clients in a wide variety of civil matters. In 2002, Jenni became an Assistant Solicitor-General in DeKalb County.
During her tenure, Jenni served as the Division Chief of the Domestic Violence Unit, where she prosecuted misdemeanor domestic violence cases deemed to be “high risk.” In 2007, she joined the staff of Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation as the Director of the Domestic Violence Project. Jenni joined AVLF in 2007 as the Director of the Domestic Violence Project. In her current position, Jenni manages a program which offers free legal assistance to domestic violence survivors who either reside in Fulton County or have matters that can be resolved in Fulton County. In addition to providing direct representation, Jenni recruits, trains, and mentors pro bono attorneys and law students in representing domestic violence survivors in civil cases.
Throughout her career, Jenni has trained in excess of 3,000 attorneys, police officers, prosecutors, judges, advocates, and community members on issues related to intimate partner violence. She is a member of the Fulton County Domestic Violence Task Force and the former Vice President of the Board of Directors for Men Stopping Violence.
Kristy Seidenberg, Staff Attorney - kseidenberg_avlf.org
Having graduated from Emory University School of Law in 2000, Kristy joined AVLF in 2009 as a staff attorney with the DV Project. In addition to her law degree, Kristy has an MS in Counseling Psychology from Columbus State University and a BS in Education from Ball State University. She was deeply involved in the process of drafting and working on the Domestic Violence Offender Registry Legislation in Georgia. Kristy is dedicated to making the legal system accessible to survivors of violence.
Read Additional Staff Bios -->
Lila Newberry Bradley, Director of One Child, One Lawyer Program - lnbradley_avlf.org
Lila Newberry Bradley is the Director of AVLF’s Child Law Programs. In this position she administers all aspects of the programs, including recruiting and training volunteers, managing the referral of cases, and acting as a liaison between the courts and the volunteers. She also works closely with the volunteers on case management and strategy. In the first 12 years after graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1985, Lila practiced business law, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and corporate securities. Lila took eight years away from the active practice of law while her three children were young, and upon returning to active practice, sought a position in which she could advocate for children not as fortunate as her own.
Lila was the primary author of the publication, “Family Preservation in Georgia: A Legal Guide to Preventing Unnecessary Removal to State Custody,” and she has served as a visiting scholar with the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic of Emory University School of Law to provide training to attorneys concerning family preservation.
Lila received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature in 1982 from the University of Georgia. She is a member in good standing of the State Bar of Georgia. Lila is also a member of the Georgia Association of Counsel for Children and the National Association of Counsel for Children, and she serves as a member and Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Association of Counsel for Children.
Michael Lucas, Staff Attorney - mlucas_avlf.org
Michael came to AVLF after working as a Staff Attorney for the Georgia Legal Services Program, representing low-income Georgians in a variety of civil matters. Prior to coming to Georgia, Michael was a fellow at Public Justice, P.C., a national public interest law firm in Washington, D.C.; he also spent several years working for change in the Texas state legislature.
Michael, who holds a Masters in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, clerked for the Honorable Catherine C. Blake of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore before beginning his legal career. Michael lives in Atlanta with his wife, Lauren, who is also a public interest lawyer.
Amanda Donalson, Paralegal - adonalson_avlf.org
Amanda is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Boston and received her paralegal certificate from Emory University. Amanda is an active member of the Gate City Bar Paralegal Section, co-chairing the CLE Committee as well as a member of the Georgia Association of Paralegals. In her spare time, Amanda enjoys volunteering for Hands on Atlanta as well as the Atlanta Food Bank.
Jeffrey McIntyre, Office Manager -jmcintyre_avlf.org
Jeffrey McIntyre is the Office Manager at AVLF. He comes to use with many years' experience in law offices, ranging from 17 years with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society in various positions, to office manager of several small firms, and the business manager of a church office. Jeffrey is responsible for payroll, accounts payable and tracking our myriad of grants. He also is responsible for managing our office systems, including the client database and computer network. He brings to AVLF his experience of client intake, representing clients as a paralegal, as well as technical and business skills.
Toni Roberts, Paralegal - troberts_avlf.org
Toni studied at Georgia State University and received her paralegal certificate with a civil litigation specialty from the National Center for Paralegal Training . She comes to AVLF with 15 years of experience, in both the private and public sectors, and with an emphasis on banking, corporate/securities and M&A work. Toni spent the last several years volunteering with AVLF's domestic violence program through local firms, a passion that ultimately lead to full-time service. She now manages AVLF's Safe Families Office, a joint venture with the Partnership Against Domestic Violence located in the Fulton County Superior Court, wherein victims of domestic violence receive assistance in obtaining temporary protective orders against their abusers.
Dionne Hines Morse, Paralegal - dmorse_avlf.org
Dionne is a graduate of the University of Georgia and received a certificate with honors from the National Center for Paralegal Training with an emphasis in Civil Litigation. In 2002, Dionne joined the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation as the Intake Coordinator, whereby she screens the several thousand telephone calls AVLF receives each year from potential clients. Dionne also coordinates legal representation in the Eviction Defense and Security Deposit Programs. She is actively involved in the Georgia Association of Paralegals and SEEDS for Life Educational, Inc.
Monique Henderson-Bell, Director of Communications and Development - mhenderson_avlf.org
A native of Washington, D.C., Monique has more than fifteen years experience in the non-profit sector. In her current role as the Communications and Development Director for AVLF, she is charged with strategically promoting and coordinating the organization's marketing and fund-raising efforts. A passionate advocate for abused, neglected, and deprived children and youth, Monique serves as a Guradian ad Litem in contentious divorce proceedings in Clayton County, while also serving on the Board of several local organizations. and as a cub-scout leader for son's pack. Monique holds a bachelors degree in Marketing and is currently working on her MBA.
