Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 12, 1993 TAG: 9311120084
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Meeting the legal-assistance needs of low-income people is the job of the Legal Aid Society of New River Valley. But with only three lawyers and a small but dedicated support staff, Legal Aid must depend on the help of private practice lawyers who offer their services free of charge for certain cases.
Two area lawyers were honored Wednesday for assistance they provide to the Legal Aid Society.
Phil Sadler, a partner in the Pulaski law firm of Gilmer Sadler Ingram and Hutton, and Greg Campbell, an attorney in Blacksburg, were awarded plaques in recognition of their contributions.
The Private Bar Involvement program, which had 37 participants this year, is coordinated by Debra Scott, Legal Aid's administrator and senior paralegal.
Scott said Sadler, who is retiring this year, is "always willing to take any case - contested and not contested."
Sadler is one of "very few senior attorneys that we have on our panel," Scott said. Sadler's work for the Legal Aid Society includes probating wills, power of attorney documents, partition suits and family law cases.
Campbell, a former Legal Aid board member, handles numerous no-fault divorces for the society and also helps lead seminars the organization sponsors on family law.
Scott said that members of the private bar will likely handle more than 200 cases for the society by the end of this year.
The society also recognized Carrie Owens, a free-lance paralegal, as its support staff member of the year. Owens draws up bankruptcy petitions at discount rates for Legal Aid. She is employed with New River Valley Community Sentencing.
Debra Sifford, executive director, said the Legal Aid Society receives about 70 calls a week from low income people seeking assistance. In October, the society had to turn down 120 requests for help because the applicants did not meet basic requirements.
Recently, the society reduced its income guidelines used to qualify prospective clients. The amount was 125 percent of federal poverty guidelines, but now the society will accept applications from those who are at 100 percent of the poverty guidelines.
Sifford said the New River Valley's poverty population grew at twice the national level from 1980 to 1990.
There are only three lawyers on staff at Legal Aid to serve the needs of more than 26,000 poor people in the valley.
"If it wasn't for the private bar, we couldn't begin to provide for them," Sifford said.
Besides focusing on consumer and family law, the Legal Aid Society is becoming active in abuse and neglect cases, bankruptcy court and hospital collection cases, Sifford said.
The Legal Aid Society of the New River Valley is a private, non-profit corporation. It receives about 60 percent of its funding from the Legal Services Corp. in Washington, D.C. The rest of its budget comes from a grant from the Legal Services Corp. of Virginia.
by CNB