AVLF Volunteer Spotlight: Chris Armor
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!
It would be impressive enough that Chris had volunteered to interview low-income clients on three Saturday mornings in as many months. It is even more extraordinary that in a short period of time, he has achieved outstanding results for two clients, who would otherwise have been on their own in difficult legal circumstances. The first client, BB, is a young single mother of two children. Within a couple of weeks of moving into her apartment unit, she discovered serious problems with the unit including leaking ceilings in the living room and bedroom, mold around the door and under the kitchen sink, a leaking toilet, a roach infestation, holes in the bathroom and kitchen walls, and wires hanging from ventilation system. Chris met with her the day after she contacted AVLF. In less than a month, he secured for the client a check for return of her security deposit and damage to her personal belongings, and he negotiated termination of her lease without penalty. Because of Chris, a young family was able to move out of uninhabitable living conditions without financial penalty and with some resources to find a new place to live.
In another matter, with a single demand letter and some follow- up, Chris was able to secure actual payment of almost $6,000.00 for a Saturday Lawyer client, TS, who had an automatic wage deduction order as part of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, but whose employer failed to remit his wages to the bankruptcy court. This is an outstanding outcome for a deserving client, and a true testament to Chris’s effectiveness as an advocate.
AVLF is most grateful for the efforts of Chris Armor, and others like him, who have become involved in our Saturday Lawyer Program this spring. We are excited about the changes we have made to the program that make it easier than ever to get involved and provide meaningful assistance to low-income people in our community. If you are interested in assisting clients with housing, debt and/or wage-related legal issues, please contact Dionne Hines Morse at dmorse_avlf.org
Learn about volunteer opportunities:
-Landlord-Tenant
-Unpaid Wages
-Consumer Debt
-Eviction Defense
Other resources:
-Saturday Lawyer Award
-Phillip Heiner Award
-Domestic Violence Award
-Guardian Ad Litem Award
-One Child One Lawyer
-Special Bankruptcy Award
