Free Legal Assistance for Active Military

We've done a post on free legal help for veterans.  But there's help for active military, too.  I ran across something from the Ohio Attorney General's office describing assistance that they will perform for members of the military and their families.  This includes help in drafting wills and power of attorney forms, as well as enforcing a military member's rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.  That's the federal law that provides protection for military personnel from a number of some civil obligations like taxes and some debts while in the service.  To contact the Ohio Attorney General's office, call (800) 282-0515.

For those in other places, Military.com has gathered up a list of other places where service members can find free legal help for these and other issues, like taxes and consumer issues. People eligible for these services include military dependents and reservists.

Money (Mostly Contests) for Inventors, and Maybe Pro Bono Legal Assistance, Too.

A patron walked in and wanted to know where the money was for grants for an invention.  Good question.  Besides the ripoff sites that will tell you about some maybe-grants for a small fee, where did you look?

The most obvious are SBIR and STTR programs available from the feds, specifically, the Department of Commerce.  They exist to push ideas from the drawing board to the marketplace.  However, they follow my ironclad rule of No Free Money: there is only money available for stuff that the funder would like to see done.  The feds are quite specific about what sorts of inventions and innovations they would like to see brought to market.  If your invention fits that desire, you may benefit.  But what if they don't?

I recently discovered a link from the Lemels MIT program that encourages inventions from young people, and lists contests and grants.  It was exciting, but then I realized that it was 99% contests and very little in the way of outright grants, many of them not for inventors, but particularly student inventors.  If you are a student inventor, you should check it out.  However, there is one that California inventors in the field of energy alternatives should check out--the small grant (up to $95,000) available in the energy field.  The research must address a California energy problem, and either the grant recipient or a subcontractor involved must be a California Based Entity.  See this solicitation for the definition. 

If you wish, check out the USA.gov page, but it won't contain anything new.  However, if you follow their links, you will find some information about pro bono help for inventors trying to get a patent.   It consists of state links, in which patent assistance is (sometimes) available, in the form of patent deposit libraries, but sometimes in the case of law schools who have students perform pro bono patent work

The scam protection page is worthwhile, because inventors seem to attract scammers like bees around a flower.  It names some firms that have been sued for trying to scam inventors, and tells you what to look out for before contacting these firms.

Free Legal Forms (for Some States)

Free legal forms are a sort of Holy Grail on the internet, and a frustrating one to find.  Searches inevitably lead to free forms--that you can get with a credit card.  But there is at least one avenue that I know of, for at least some states. 

LawHelpInteractive is a project of ProBonoNet, a joint project of the Legal Services Corporation and several pro bono nonprofit legal agencies in 26 states the District of Columbia and a few Canadian provinces.  They provide interactive legal forms online in those locales, which walks you through the forms provided (the forms differ from state to state), then provides them in printable form.  You can even get them emailed to you. 

To find help, click the appropriate state, and you will be taken to the legal aid site for that state.  Some will take you directly to the site for forms, some to their overall legal aid site, with easy-to-read information of various topics, where you have to follow the topic to find the form (if they have it).  For instance, the Idaho site takes you straight to the forms, while in Ohio, you go to the Ohio Legal Services site, and the link to local forms takes you to the sites for local courts that have online forms.  If you want a statewide one for healthcare power of attorney, you have to click the "seniors" link, then click the "forms and information" tab at the top of the page.  Each state's legal site is different.  Generally, you find your subject and follow it through till you find a form.  In Texas, clicking the state button for forms leads you to three forms: indigency, uncontested divorce, and protective orders. 

Often, the search leads back to LawHelpInteractive, where you are walked through the various steps of the form, and finish with a complete form. 

Another possibility for free forms is at the website of your local courts.  Some post their forms.  In Ohio, an easy way to find them is this page, in which you put in your zip code or county, and are provided links to the forms page of various courts in your area. Another possibility is Gale Legal Forms.  It's not free, BUT if you local library subscribes to it, you can get their forms free through the library.  For instance, if you have a library card and PIN number for the Toledo Lucas County Public Library, you can access them free through the library's website. 

Free Legal Clinic for Businesses in Toledo

Last summer we had a post on free legal help that businesses could get.  In Toledo, ABLE is sponsoring a free legal clinic for small businesses on February 15, 2012 at 6 p.m. at 2200 Jefferson (First Floor, the McAuley Room).  In it, you can talk to lawyers and get legal advice on all sorts of legal business topics--intellectual property, contracts, real estate, regulation, and more--but you must pre-register and fill out an intake form.  To do so, or get more information, contact Anneliese Gryta at 419-930-2380 or email her at agryta@ablelaw.org. 

Legal Help for Veterans

Free or low cost legal help is always in demand, but veterans bring their own issues to the table--the need to know their rights about their benefits and other issues unique to them.  Some organizations and websites exist to try to fill that need. 

Stateside Legal is a project of Pine Tree Legal Assistance of Maine and the Arkansas Legal Services Partnership, and it has different avenues of assistance.  It has canned information on specific topics, like health, education benefits, re-employment, and more.  It has links to lots of organizations that deal with veterans's issues, both legal and financial assistance.  It also allows you to fill in a little information about yourself at the top of each page, put in some key words about your legal issue, and generates some information about your legal problem.

There is also the GI Rights Hotline (the number is 1-877-447-4487).  The website provides contacts for regional help in many areas of the country.  The American Bar Association also provides a state-by-state listing, through their Homefront Program, of attorneys that provide legal assistance specializing in veterans's affairs, and in general law.  

Another nonprofit group that represents veterans (and those entitled to veterans benefits) in benefits hearings is the Veterans Advocacy Group (VETLAG).   They do not do other legal work.  However, they have list other groups that do.

Finally, the Veteran's Adminstration accredits attorneys, claims representatives and VSO (veteran's servce organizations) in dealing with legal affairs.  These are NOT NECESSARILY LOW COST, it merely marks them as groups that are recognized by the VA as having some specialized knowledge of veteran's legal affairs.  It will at least give you a start in finding someone specialized in what you need to know.

Finding Free Legal Assistance for New and Small Businesses

As I've said before, everybody is so intent on finding "free money" that they turn up their nose at stuff that's free and may be even better than money.  For small and new business owners, that could definitely be free legal advice.  So where do you find it?  As we discussed, there are pro se clinics, where people can get help in filling out legal forms correctly and preventing crucial mistakes.  And there are legal clinics where entrepreneurs can sit down with a law student (under professional supervision) or volunteer lawyers for advice on business formation,forms and other issues (but generally NOT litigation). 

In the Toledo area, ABLE, a nonprofit group, has created the Microenterprise Legal Assistance Project to assist new and small businesses, and offers one half hour free with volunteer attorneys once a month.  For more information, call  (888) 534-1432. 

The University of Akron SEED program is pretty typical, and describes its program thusly:

"Under the supervision of a licensed attorney, second and third year law students provide non-litigation, transactional legal and business advice including business planning, employment, contract/lease, tax and entity formation information. The SEED provides advice and counsel to new or emerging businesses that would otherwise be unable to hire outside counsel and that have been in operation less than five (5) years and with gross annual revenues less than $100,000, with a special emphasis on women and minorities."

In New York, the City Bar Justice Center runs the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project, runs small business legal clinics in partnership with other community institutions like the Brooklyn Public Library, the South Bronx Economic Development Corporation, and the  Queens Economic Development Corporation.  Owners of small business can speak one-on-one with attorneys.  Likewise, WIBO (Workshop in Business Opportunities) in Harlem has a small business legal clinic, too.  In the District of Columbia, the D.C. Bar Association runs its own legal clinic for small businesses six times a year.

Where can you find such clinics near you?  Here's some ways to find them: simply put the words business law clinic and the name of your town--or the nearest big town--in Google.  Or check your nearest law libary, or small business development center to find out if you have one in your town (put your zip code in the box on the right side of the page, and find all the resources in your area.)

Another Way to Receive Low-Cost Legal Help: the Pro Se Clinic

People are familiar with pro bono (donated) legal services, but there is another way to get low-cost legal help if you need it.  It's the pro se clinic, in which lawyers, law students or paralegals donate their services to help low-income people fill out the legal forms they need that help laypeople do their own footwork in court for a small fee, or free.

In a post a short while back, we discussed one of these types of pro se clinics: those that help ex-offenders fill out the paperwork to get their criminal records expunged or sealed.  However, there are clinics covering other work, too: in Lucas County, Ohio (Toledo), the Toledo Bar Association runs pro se clinics for Juvenile Court and family law and well as expungement, with plans to run them from guardianship and bankruptcy.  For more information on these, contact Pat Intagliata at 419-242-9363.  Since the help involved is direction on how to fill out and file forms, it is often restricted to uncomplicated cases.  For instance, the Lucas County Pro Se Clinic for divorce is only for cases where there are no minor children involved.  When things get complicated, clients are advised to get either a private or pro bono attorney.  In New York City, there are several projects being done for the elderly, incarcerated mothers, immigrants, the HIV positive, and in microenterprise by Volunteer Legal Services.

How do you find these in your area?  One place to look is the online directory of court pro se clinics.  These are run in the courts themselves (like a district federal court or bankruptcy, for instance).  Another is the directory of places to go for free/low cost legal help from the American Judicature Society.  You may ask the local legal aid office in your community.  You can also search google for "pro se clinic" (in quotes), and the name of your city or the type of law you are dealing with, such as bankruptcy or divorce.  Or, you could contact your local bar association. Another possibility is a local law school--sometimes, their students will fill out forms under the supervision of their professors.


***Important: Because a clinic is "pro se" doesn't necessarily mean it's free or low-cost.  "Pro se" just means that it helps you do your own legal work.  Commercial, for-profit companies may do these clinics, too.  When you contact and ask them, ask HOW MUCH it will cost you.  Don't assume it's free or low-cost.

Find a Foreclosure Prevention/Homebuying/Credit Counseling Seminar in Ohio

Ohio's Save the Dream campaign, a coalition that works with homeowners to stop foreclosure, is putting on a series of workshops all over Ohio for Ohioans who are in deep with credit problems, foreclosure threats...or want to learn how to buy a house, or improve their financial fitness and money handling skills--all for free.  Some of these are about other issues, too--like general legal issues for those unable to afford to talk to a lawyer.  IF YOU NEED TO TALK TO A COUNSELOR RIGHT NOW ABOUT HOW TO SAVE YOUR HOUSE, CALL  888-404-4674

But there are all sorts of efforts to make the average Ohioan smarter about money.  The Ohio Treasurer's Office also hosts programs around the state on how to handle money in their "Smart Money" classes and many others.  Finally, the Attorney General's office will host programs upon request on consumer fraud, scams and credit.  For more information, give them a call at (800) 282-0515.