The Basics of Pro Bono Legal Services in SC
Pro bono means "for the public good" in Latin. In legal settings, it generally refers to professional work done voluntarily and without payment, or for a nominal fee, as your local SC pro bono legal services office may offer. While the American Bar Association points out that lawyers sometimes refer to their work as pro bono when they are not being paid or only being paid a nominal amount, generally speaking, if you are searching for the services and opportunity to obtain legal advice and representation at little or no cost to you, you should be looking for a pro bono legal services organization.
Don’t mistake a pro bono service for free legal help. A pro bono organization can connect you with a qualified lawyer to help you with your case, while free legal help typically means assistance from a law school clinic or other similar local organizations. If you need a lawyer to help with your case , you’ll want to connect with a pro bono organization. These are generally provided to low-income individuals or groups on a case-by-case basis. It’s important to remember that pro bono isn’t "free legal help"-it’s a way for experienced lawyers to give back to their community.
Some cases handled by pro bono services include domestic violence, eviction matters, bankruptcy, immigration cases, veterans’ assistance, and family law matters. The lawyers provide legal representation, legal education, and pro se resources (help with how to represent oneself in a legal matter without a lawyer). When you contact a local pro bono legal service, you’ll be asked some questions about your situation, and the atmosphere will probably be quite informal. What people need to understand is that pro bono services cannot take every type of case that comes their way. There is a limitation to the kinds of cases lawyers in that area can help with, for example, representing people in personal injury or workers’ compensation cases. It just depends on the area served.
Who Can Receive Pro Bono Legal Services in South Carolina
Eligibility to access pro bono services in South Carolina is determined by a combination of criteria including income level, case type, and residency status. The primary factor that affects eligibility is your income level. At present, the guidelines for eligibility set by the South Carolina Supreme Court are an annual income maximum of $13,000 for each individual and $21,000 for each family. When determining household income, a pro bono organization is required to consider additional financial details, such as assets outside of cash, trusts, and gifts. The income limits we have provided are the current thresholds as established by the Legal Services Corporation, however, these limits vary from state to state, so it is advisable to check with your local pro bono organization regarding income and asset limits specific to your area.
The type of case is another factor in whether or not an individual qualifies for pro bono assistance. Generally speaking, pro bono representation is typically offered for civil rather than criminal cases. This means that people looking for pro bono help with issues such as housing, consumer rights, and basic civil rights may be eligible for assistance. However, individuals seeking help with criminal matters, including their own criminal offenses, are unlikely to qualify for pro bono aid. Those who are seeking help with family law issues such as divorce, child custody, and child support are generally ineligible for pro bono services as well, except in extreme cases of domestic violence. Exceptions in regards to eligibility are occasionally made on a case-by-case basis, but these exceptions are at the discretion of the organization.
In addition to income level and type of case, a potential clients’ residency status is another aspect of eligibility to be considered. Generally speaking, many pro bono organizations typically ask that applicants be legal residents of South Carolina and residing in the area where they are seeking legal assistance for a minimum of six months. Additional residency and area requirements may also apply.
Organizations that Provide Pro Bono Legal Assistance
A mix of nonprofits, bar associations, and law schools, South Carolina’s key pro bono organizations all share a common mission: to expand access to justice by providing free legal assistance to those who cannot afford an attorney.
The South Carolina Access to Justice Commission coordinates and promotes efforts among nonprofits and the state bar to ensure that low-income and disadvantaged individuals in South Carolina have equal access to justice and high-quality legal services. It promotes the involvement of the private bar in providing pro bono legal services, and manages the state’s IOLTA (Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts) grant program, which funds hundreds of nonprofit legal programs across South Carolina.
The South Carolina Legal Services (SCLSC) provides civil legal services to low-income individuals by utilizing both staff attorneys and thousands of volunteers throughout the state. SCLSC also operates 4 of the state’s 10 legal aid clinics. The organization and its volunteer attorneys work with low-income individuals who typically earn 125% of the federal poverty level or less. Its 10 funded programs serve 46 of South Carolina’s 46 counties.
South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center provides free civil legal assistance and various advocacy programs that address systemic injustices. In addition to direct representation, the organization provides public policy and grassroots advocacy, educational programs, and legal assistance programs for the elderly. To carry out its mission, the organization relies on private donations from individuals, law firms, and other nonprofit organizations.
Getting Help Through Pro Bono Legal Services
Accessing Pro Bono legal services in South Carolina, up until recently, has been a fairly labor intensive process. In 2014 SCVAC (South Carolina Victim Assistance Common Fund), the SC Bar and Legal Services met to streamline this process. The idea was to consolidate all of the non-profit organizations in the area willing to help non-incarcerated, economically disadvantaged individuals who have been victims of a crime into one central location. The collaboration of these organizations along with SCVAC resulted in the Pro Bono Button, which goes on your toolbar or homepage of your browser, it is a great time saver for the impatient! You can find the Pro Bono Button, here: https://www.sclaw.org/Pro-Bono-Button-Login.html You may apply for legal help from an attorney online, over the phone, and in person. Attorney’s fees are based on family size and income. It doesn’t matter what your marital status, race, age, religion, or gender is – if you qualify, you’re entitled to receive help. Charlotte Evans, Legal Services told SCVAC: "We asked clients what time of day they would prefer to be contacted for an appointment in the comfort of their home and we heard from a large number of them that evening time is preferred for them and their working hours along with having children in school are the reasons for that. Attorneys can ask the questions they need to get the client information they need to screen the client for income and family size." Expenses are shared by each partner organization. All attorneys agree to "pro bono standards for representation of clients served through the Button Project." And lastly, staff "meet monthly with the Bar’s pro bono manager, who acts as the project’s coordinator. Changes to the system are made based on the pro bono attorneys’ and residents’ feedback." So when an individual needs pro bono legal help, they need to visit the Pro Bono Button, create an account (you can use the SC Bar’s client and ethics portal if you have a SC Bar number), enter all of the necessary data and information requested on the portal, submit their request for legal help and then await a team member to contact them and refer one of the volunteer attorneys who have signed up for the "Button Project." Now the goal is to improve the process to make the accessibility and the delivery of legal services in SC more efficient and streamlined at a faster rate. For those who do not have internet, they can call the Pro Bono Button line up, 888-346-5592, where they can speak with someone from the project. Staff will ask them questions along with family size, employment, expenses, etc., then will distribute their information to an attorney to begin the process. The Pro Bono Button has been a really effective tool for the bar to monitor whether the call was returned within a specific period of time. When the system sends an email to the trained attorney to return a call, the ethical deadline for returning the call and following up with the client is two business days. If there is a delay, it will show in the system. When the client responds to the email, it will go to the supervising attorney, and if that person assigns the case, they are responsible for all client communication thereafter. The case is assigned to the attorney via the system through a close-tracking method that allows the bar to see how many cases an attorney has taken on and how many open cases they are currently working on. Finally, as of 2015, "we no longer want folks to sit in an office and count their pro bono hours just to find they have fewer hours than last year," Charlotte Evans stated. Projects and partners with online pro bono portals include, but are not limited to: The South Carolina Bar, South Carolina Legal Services, Legal Volunteers, Inc., The USC School of Law and Neighborhood Legal Clinics. Overall, this is a huge step not only for the bar, and for the wounded people of SC, but also for the lawyers in this state who are looking to take on pro bono cases, and don’t have to worry about searching for them anymore!
Limitations and Difficulties of Pro Bono Legal Work
In SC, as across the country, there is a high demand for legal services from low-income and vulnerable populations. And while public interest lawyers, courts, and nonprofits do their best to meet that need, pro bono lawyers trying to address it face several challenges and limitations in their work.
Demand for legal services exceeds resources. Demand always exceeds resources when you’re serving those with the greatest need, enabling them to improve their lives and break free from poverty. While the need is great—and rising—financial contributions to support the delivery of pro bono legal services are at a 20-year low. There are two main reasons for that. First, the Great Recession increased the demand for civil legal assistance and the impact of that has not yet abated. Second, the advent of online giving—and improved communications technologies—has allowed people to spread their giving across more charities than ever before. Facebook, for example, lets people do fundraising for their favorite charities and causes on their birthdays. So they do.
Lawyers who volunteer show up when asked. We’ve all heard the saying that "volunteers can come out when it rains, but when you need them is when it’s sunny." South Carolina matches the national trend that lawyers who don’t regularly practice pro bono rarely sign up even when they’re asked. Those who do practice pro bono regularly say it’s very rewarding. But as demand for pro bono service rises , the pool of those ready and able to volunteer isn’t keeping pace.
Technology isn’t a substitute for pro bono. Technology is an important tool for pro bono lawyers and ultimately will help even more people get legal services. But technology is not a substitute for the relationship between a pro bono attorney and client. Just as the legal needs of low-income people aren’t going down, neither is their reliance on face-to-face interactions. And nor should it. There are, for example, more than 250 rural communities across our state where people rely heavily on community-based services and infrastructure for their physical and mental health needs. Technology plays an important role in what is fundamentally very complex relational work that must be done face-to-face.
Pro bono lawyers use different service delivery models. Volunteer attorneys understand the value of having a safety net to catch people when they fall through the cracks. But they need to connect with a safety net that is tailored to the unique social conditions of their communities. Volunteer opportunities must be designed to fit into the context where clients live and serve those clients locally. These factors include the income level and culture of the place, the types of issues facing low-income people in the area, whether good people are already doing good things. How these variables interact and affect the process of legal service delivery in any given community are unique to each. So a pro bono program that works in Charleston may not work in Spartanburg. That is why it is critical that issues are analyzed locally—not just at the system level.
Pro Bono Legal Service Success Stories in SC
When it comes to pro bono in South Carolina, the impact of dedicated legal volunteers goes well beyond paper descriptors and numbers. We want you to not merely read about pro bono here but rather appreciate the difference it makes to the individual and the community.
- The Legal Aid Society of the Low Country helps the disadvantaged at all economic levels, typically in civil matters. Residents of Charleston, Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester and Beaufort counties are told the service is meant for those who cannot afford a lawyer and cannot qualify for legal aid.
- A New York City law firm got involved with a Charleston client and has taken the matter pro bono since 2002. After filing an interracial housing discrimination lawsuit against a local landlord, it won a $1.1 million settlement on behalf of a black woman. The settlement has been used to fund scholarships for black students in the area.
- In Horry County, the senior citizens’ program of The S.C. Bar Young Lawyers Division takes on nearly 200 pro bono cases per year, making it "among the most active programs of its kind," according to one of the lawyers who runs the program. In 2006, the program had more than 100 seniors ready to testify about their problems in front of the county probate judge in hopes of effecting improvements for others in similar situations.
- A pro bono case involved a woman in an abusive relationship, whose husband had used her credit cards to pay off gambling debts. The husband had forged her signature on documents without her knowledge and seized her wages, while ruining her credit. The case took several months of settlement negotiations, where the former couple agreed the husband not reoccupy the apartment, nor leave behind or transfer any furniture that belonged to his wife. The wife was pleased they could avoid trial and was even more pleased to return to work and move into the apartment to be reunited with her children.
- "I have been blessed enough during my career to obtain some large verdicts and awards in cases against insurance companies that refused to deal fairly with the injured people. More satisfying, however, is a recent case I won for a 73-year-old woman who worked for a Christmas ornament company for 37 years. She was downsized at the time of her employer’s bankruptcy. They owed her for several months of work and promised to provide her with a lump sum payment in 60 days. My practice has a relationship with a national attorney referral network, and we accepted the client and performed our services pro bono. She ultimately received several thousand dollars and, more important to me, she cried on her witness stand testimony, both out of gratitude and pain at losing her income. I vowed that she would not leave the courtroom that day unless she had her money. The reaction of the judge, jury, audience, and my fellow lawyers watching the trial, tells me I did not fail her," wrote the lawyer who described the matter as one of the most gratifying of his legal career.
The Impact of Attorneys Working Pro Bono
In an environment where private attorneys are not available at a low cost for these citizens, pro bono attorneys become the difference between whether a significant legal problem is addressed or goes unresolved. Therefore, accepting and handling a pro bono case is a serious commitment that requires attorneys to set aside time to ensure that they provide quality representation. Pro bono work is considered an opportunity rather than a requirement, however, attorneys often gain great satisfaction from the experience and learn more about their community and its needs. Attorneys in South Carolina who perform pro bono work receive CLE credit and can also request waiver of the annual $200.00 to the Commission on Indigent Defense that is required of all attorneys who handle GC cases. The value of a pro bono case for the attorney is beyond measure when you consider the impact on the client who often has nowhere else to turn; however, it is also rewarding from a professional standpoint as well. Pro bono attorneys gain invaluable courtroom experience handling cases that are often unique for them and may face issues that they have never encountered before.
The Future of Pro Bono Legal Services in South Carolina
Over the next several years, the future of pro bono legal services in South Carolina will likely be shaped by population dynamics and the impact of technology on the practice of law. The state’s population is projected to grow modestly, reaching 5.5 million by 2030 and close to 6 million by 2040. Population growth in booming metropolitan areas such as Greenville and Charleston will continue to fuel demand for pro bono legal services. In some rural areas, however, an aging population and a lack of jobs and services may contribute to population decline, translating into challenges for pro bono programs, access to justice advocates, and courts alike.
Also of critical importance to the future of pro bono is the adoption of new technologies . Several pro bono programs in South Carolina have introduced online tools such as "Lawyer in the Library" and "A Lawyer Helps," which provide legal assistance to clients in nontraditional venues such as libraries or simply online. They also make finding legal resources easier and help connect those in need of pro bono legal services to attorneys. Online platforms such as Palmetto Pro Bono advocates for pro bono service by matching attorneys with projects based upon their interests and qualifications. These developments represent not only important advances, but also the future of the practice of law. On the horizon are potentially game-changing tools such as artificial intelligence that will disrupt the field as we know it. Several courts across the country (including the Charleston Municipal Court) already use "artificially intelligent chatbots" to guide individuals through the judicial process.