Looking Back: Te Origins of the Community Legal Center
by Mary Jo Miller, Laurie Christensen, and Kathy Story
acknowledge its impact. In 1993, the Association for Women Attorneys, the oldest
A
women’s bar association in Tennessee, wished to give form to their support of the values of mediation in resolving legal disputes. At that time Judge Julia Gibbons, Susan Clark, Kathy Story and Mary Jo Miller drafted the first grant proposal for the AWA Family Mediation Center with services directed to a population similar to those serviced by the Church Health Center. In 1994, Mary Jo Miller became the first Chair of the AWA
Family Mediation Center. Tis Board was comprised of Memphis Attorneys, CPAs, Law School Professors and Judges. Te Board, in part, instituted bylaws, employed a director, and found a location to hold the clinic. However, within a year it became apparent that, although the desire to endorse fully the merits of mediation remained strong, mediation was not the most viable alternative for the population being served. Regardless, the commitment of this Board to provide legal
service to our targeted population was deep and sincere. We wanted to provide legal assistance to our economy’s working poor: service workers, laborers, cooks, servers, and warehouse workers whom we all know are responsible and who deserve the dignity of being able to respond when faced with a legal issue. Yet this population, while striving to be self-supporting, has no discretionary income to hire an attorney.
Tus the Board changed our mission to meet the need, and Mary
Jo Miller became Chair of the Community Legal Center Board of Directors. Attorney members of those early board years included Elmore Holmes, Mike Robb, Baron Wilkes, Judge Julia Gibbons, Patricia Horton, and Judge Mark Ward. Tis very hard-working Board
Community Legal Center is a non-profit, legal services agency incorporated in 1994 to provide legal services to people of limited means in Memphis and Shelby County and to educate them as to their rights and responsibilities under the law.
Memphis Attorneys
Receive court dockets each business day and market your services to potential clients.
With DATA DIRECT service from The Daily News Online you can receive court dockets directly to your Inbox each business day. Use these mailing lists to reach out to prospective clients and win new business.
DOCKETS AVAILABLE FOR:
• General Sessions Criminal Court
• State Criminal Court • Circuit Court (Weekly)
We also provide lists of bankruptcy filings, foreclosure notices, FED warrants and much more!
LISTS START AT JUST $20/MONTH!
Contact us today for more details or to subscribe to service. Call 901152815273
or email
sales@memphisdailynews.com www.memphisdailynews.com
s the Community Legal Center completes twenty years of serving the working poor in our community, it seems appropriate to reflect on the origins of our organization and
determined that CLC would serve those earning between 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and a living wage. Tis is a population who earn too much to qualify for free legal service, but not enough to hire a private attorney. Te Board very carefully determined the issues where the CLC would offer assistance so that we would not compete with the private bar. We determined that the CLC would not take any cases for which an attorney might earn a fee. Rather, we would assist with domestic issues, landlord tenant, consumer, and conservatorships. Te Board members recruited volunteer lawyers and worked on fundraising. Tere were initially 27 attorneys who had committed at least 75 hours of mediation time because they had been trained to be Rule 31 mediators by the AWA Family Mediation Center. Attorneys from all areas of the law were trained to help with clients in an effort to provide a more comprehensive resource center. Over the past twenty years, the CLC has served over 28,000 clients with the help of over 500 attorneys. Te CLC Board of Directors continues to be very committed, involved and engaged. With the Board's strong support, the CLC raised $24,600 with their 2013 annual fundraiser, STRUT! Memphis, a fashion show and silent auction held this past October. CLC has reached the twenty-year milestone determined and more dedicated to continuing to serve the population that needs help in gaining access to justice. Demand for divorces remains high and we will continue to serve that need as well as for conservatorships and other civil legal services. We continue to provide immigration services as part of our commitment to the well-known American doctrine, “Justice for All.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32