FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     

The Legal Aid Society of Hawaii has begun recruiting for a new project aimed at increasing access to representation in the civil legal system for Hawaii's low-income and working poor residents. Partnership in Pro Bono, a collaboration among Legal Aid and members of the private bar, will ink attorneys in private, corporate and government practice to island residents who have a legitimate civil legal claim, but lack the resources to hire an attorney.

Through active peer-to-peer recruitment, Legal Aid hopes to increase the number of working and retired attorneys who volunteer a portion of their time to assist needy island residents with issues such as child support enforcement, adoption, family placement, consumer credit, housing, Social Security and medical benefits. Volunteer attorneys are asked to contribute a minimum of 6 hours or one case per year. In return, Legal Aid provides volunteers with pre-screening of cases for eligibility and merit, assistance with legal research, mentoring and co-counsel opportunities with experienced Legal Aid staff and coverage under Legal Aid's $1 million malpractice insurance policy.

According to U.S. Census data, median family income in Hawaii had the second sharpest decrease in the country and the number of households living below the Federal Poverty Line increased by about 1.2 percent in 2002, the latest year for which such figures are available. The same time period saw a decline in state and federal dollars allocated to service providers and Legal Aid is not exempt from that trend. According to Scott Morishige, manager of Legal Aid's Center for Equal Justice, "the need for services is unfortunately growing while, across the board, capacity to provide those services is shrinking."

Legal Aid predicts that Partnership in Pro Bono will help satisfy the growing needs of the island community. "I'm excited about tapping the significant resources and expertise of the private bar as we struggle of the private bar as we struggle to fulfill the needs of so many low income individuals and families trying to access the legal system," says Executive Director Victor Geminiani.

In addition to volunteer attorneys, Legal Aid is also recruiting non-attorney volunteers to serve as paralegals and as volunteer guardians ad litem in family courts. Non-attorney volunteers may choose to assist volunteer attorneys with case work in civil matters or, pending the successful completion of a court-mandated training program, may represent the interests of children in Family Court hearings which involve Child Protective Services.

Partnership in Pro Bono is the latest in a series of innovative programs aimed at fulfilling Legal Aid's vision of building a just society. Prior successful efforts include the creation of the Center for Equal Justice in downtown Honolulu where clients can receive free legal services on a walk-in basis, the HUD Homeless Project which has more than tripled the number of homeless individuals and families who access services from Legal Aid and Kuikahi Enehana which uses technology to link clients to non-legal social service providers.

Contact:     Rebecca L. Anderson
Phone:       (808) 527-8025
E-mail:       reander@lashaw.org