Guest Attorney

Florida Guardian ad Litem Program: An overview and account of my experience as a volunteer

by andrea pleimling smith, esq.

The Florida Guardian Ad Litem program serves Florida’s most vulnerable children who have been subjected to abuse, abandonment and/or neglect. In 2021, the program served more than 37,000 children and had more than 13,000 volunteers. The program depends upon volunteers willing to devote their time to protecting children’s interests in dependency cases. My path to volunteering as a Guardian ad Litem started in 2018 when I became a mentor to a foster child through the FAWL in Love with GAL program. Through supporting my mentee and attending several hearings for her dependency case, I became interested in volunteering my time as a Guardian ad Litem. I went through the training process and was certified as a GAL in 2020. I was promptly assigned a case as the need for Guardians ad Litem exceeds the availability of volunteers. While you do not need to be an attorney to serve as a volunteer Guardian ad Litem, I have found that this background is helpful in navigating the complex foster care system. Many children involved in dependency cases crave stability and normalcy. They face numerous placements, stressful living situations and high caseloads and turnover rates of caseworkers. As a Guardian ad Litem, part of your role is to maintain stability and serve as a friendly face for your child and make sure they have what they need. When foster children change placements, it can be very chaotic, and they often do not have the opportunity to collect all their possessions and take them to their new placement. This means they may not have clothing, school materials and medications when they get to their new placement. The Guardian ad Litem can help a child with these seemingly simple things that can make all the difference. The child involved in my case arrived at his first placement, a group home, with very little clothing, most of which was too small. This was a problem that had an easy fix and made a huge difference in this child’s well-being. I contacted the Guardian ad Litem Foundation, and they promptly provided a gift card so I could purchase clothing for him. Another area where a Guardian ad Litem can make a big difference is checking a child has medical care and medication they have been prescribed. There is often confusion when a child changes placements about medications, dosages, etc. The Guardian ad Litem can help by knowing what medications the child takes and ensuring all new placements are educated about the dosages and timing of medications. These are just several examples of relatively simple things a Guardian ad Litem can do and have a positive impact in a child’s life.

The Guardian ad Litem also serves as the voice for the child in court hearings and staffings, so the child’s wishes are communicated and heard. Too often foster children are left feeling like they have no voice and no control over what is happening to them. The Guardian ad Litem can help inform the court and others involved how the child feels and what their needs are.

Being a Guardian ad Litem does require a time commitment; however, it is incredibly rewarding and necessary work. Serving as a Guardian ad Litem involves regular visits with your child so you understand their wishes and circumstances and can address any needs they may have. Being a Guardian ad Litem also involves attending court hearings and interacting with family members and caregivers to assess the best interests of the child. I encourage anyone looking for a way to give back to consider serving as a Guardian ad Litem and welcome anyone who would like to discuss the program in more detail to reach out.

Andrea Pleimling Smith, Esq. is a partner at Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice & Purtz, P.A.. She focuses her practice exclusively on representing Plaintiffs in personal injury and wrongful death cases.

The search is on for PRO BONO SUPERSTARS

opportunities are available in many ways

by keith grossman, esq.

The Lee County Bar Association is once again acknowledging and recognizing “Pro Bono Superstars”. The LCBA will recognize the recipients in a ceremony on October 21, 2022. Every local attorney who has done pro bono work since January will receive a free lunch and a special appreciation gift. Britt Berg coordinates pro bono services for Florida Rural Legal Services (FRLS). According to Berg, FRLS has 14 attorneys who have volunteered this year, and they have placed 27 cases. Berg and Michelle Trunkett, Managing Attorney for the Fort Myers office of FRLS, both explain they need attorneys britt berg to volunteer for pro bono cases in many areas of law, including family, guardian advocacy, consumer law, bankruptcy, immigration, and real property. They also are looking for volunteers to help with the low-income tax clinic. Trunkett adds that FRLS has seen many clients come through their doors having contract disputes with contractors, such as air conditioning service companies. She says many senior citizens are entering into these contracts and the service providers are not completing the work or even showing up. Trunkett says, “That’s a big demand we’ve had recently. We are looking for attorneys with experience in those types of cases.” Andrew Banyai, Executive Director of Lee County Legal Aid, says, “We have a tremendous influx of Landlord-Tenant problems.” Banyai explains that as rental prices have increased, “unscrupulous landlords are breaking the leases to get the higher rents.” Legal Aid is looking for attorneys who can help represent these tenants. Banyai says these cases require a small amount of time. “It could take just 1-2 hours of their time and can have a huge impact on somebody.” Banyai also highlighted debt collection matters as another area where Legal Aid could use volunteer attorneys. In 1992, the Florida Supreme Court set an aspirational goal for all members of the Bar to provide at least 20 hours of Pro Bono legal services annually. As an alternative, an attorney can contribute $350.00 to a legal aid organization. The purpose of the goal is to address the unmet legal needs of Florida’s poor and their lack of access to the legal system, which has an adverse effect on the legal system, as well as the poor. Pro Bono services can be for the benefit of an individual client or charitable, religious, or educational organizations predominately addressing the needs of the poor. Pro Bono cases also benefit the lawyers by providing opportunities to expand their legal knowledge and learn new skills. From July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, Florida lawyers provided more than 1.5 million hours of pro bono services and donated $6.7 million to legal aid organizations. If you are looking for more independence in your pro bono service, or you can’t commit to accepting an entire case, there are individual Pro Bono service volunteer opportunities. Berg explains that FRLS offers remote family law cases. In this program, attorneys work with pro se parties who are seeking guidance as they continue to represent themselves. FRLS schedules the phone calls between the attorney and the client, and the calls typically last 30-40 minutes. In addition to Fort Myers, FRLS services Punta Gorda, Immokalee, Belle Glade, Fort Pierce, Lakeland, and West Palm. In some of those regional

areas, they provide a similar remote service for other areas of law besides family law. They are open to expanding the remote services program into other areas of law in Lee County, as well. Berg says, “We are definitely open to other opportunities.” There is another local opportunity for attorneys to provide pro bono services, which is the Lee County Legal Aid and Lee County Clerk of Court Self-Help Clinic, The self-help clinic is overseen by Banyai, and is a panel of local attorneys answering questions from the community on different areas of law. The panel meets weekly via Zoom. According to Legal Aid, 19 attorneys gave advice in the Zoom calls between July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022. The top three issues being Family Law, Small Claims and Landlord/Tenant Evictions. Other pro bono opportunities exist through the Florida Bar, as well: Florida Pro Bono Matters is an interactive website that enables attorneys to search for pro bono cases that suit their interests and submit an interest form to the legal aid or pro bono program that posted the case. (https://thefloridabarfoundation.org/florida-pro-bono-matters) Florida Free Legal Answers is a pro bono project that allows you to conduct pro bono service online from your office, your home or wherever you choose. Enrollment is open to all eligible Florida Bar members. (https://florida.freelegalanswers.org/ Attorneys/Account/Agreement) Florida Guardian Ad Litem program website offers volunteer opportunities. (http://www.guardianadlitem.org) Young Lawyers Division Disaster Legal Services Hotline is a service provided in conjunction with the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Section and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide basic civil legal services for victims of a natural disaster who cannot otherwise afford legal representation. (https://flayld.org/get-involved/disasterrelief-fema-hotline) If you would like to accept a Pro Bono case with Legal Aid, you can contact Banyai or Nanci Dubois. They have a web page for interested volunteers, as well: https://www.leecountylegalaid. org/referral-partner/ Berg explains that the FRLS website has a pro bono page. It contains their pro bono program mission statement, and it has places for attorneys to register to volunteer and see available pro bono cases. Berg says that interested attorneys can also contact him or Trunkett directly. “We’ll do the best placement we can do,” he says. Berg says, “For anyone who’s interested in doing pro bono work, we have a lot of options. We’re able to be creative.” For many of these pro bono opportunities, attorneys who volunteer are provided malpractice insurance and costs reimbursements. Other ways to find pro bono cases include contacting Lauren Baugh at LCBA or looking for opportunities through the Florida Bar’s “Pro Bono Matters” portal. Banyai also adds that Legal Aid offers CLE opportunities

For anyone who’s interested in to help educate attorneys on doing pro bono work, we have a lot unfamiliar areas of law, so they feel comfortable accepting more of options. We’re able to be creative. cases. Britt Berg In addition to the work of Pro Bono Coordinator Staff Attorney attorneys, there is also a role for judges and judicial staff in supporting pro bono efforts. The Florida Supreme Court recognized that judges are engaged in numerous activities which advance “the principles of pro bono service” when it issued Amendments to Rules Regulating The Florida Bar - 1-3.1(a) and Rules of Judicial Administration - 2.065 (Legal Aid), 630 So. 2d 501 (Fla. 1993). The Supreme Court was addressing the dilemma concerning what type of pro bono activities would be appropriate for judges and judicial staff to participate in. Within Amendments to Rules Regulating The Florida Bar - 1-3.1(a) and Rules of Judicial Administration - 2.065 (Legal Aid), 630 So. 2d 501 (Fla. 1993), the Supreme Court mandated the establishment of a circuit pro bono committee in each judicial circuit, along with developing a local pro bono legal services plan. In response, Twentieth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Michael T. McHugh issued Administrative Order 2.37 on September 15, 2016. Administrative Order 2.37 created the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Standing Committee with the duties of assessing pro bono legal services within the circuit and developing a circuit-wide pro bono plan. The Administrative Order designates certain local legal services agencies as members of the committee. The committee can then invite additional members to join the committee. Trunkett is a member of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee, and she encourages attorneys to consider joining the committee. She says, “We are always looking for involvement from the private bar.”

The fall admissions cycle for law schools is now complete, and according to an August 1, 2022 report by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), a nonprofit that administers the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), the number of law school applicants is down 11.6% compared to last year at this time. In 2021, there was a 13% rise in the number of applicants who sought to enter law school. Last year’s number flooded many law schools with more applications than they could handle. Those applicants tended to have higher grades and LSAT scores than in previous years, which resulted in many law schools having unprecedented median LSAT score increases. It also resulted in many law schools accepting a more diverse class. It is believed the 2021 increase in applications was due in part to the pandemic providing applicants with more time on their hands to study. It’s also believed applicants hedged their bets by applying to more schools in response to heightened competition. In 2020, there was a late surge of applicants, so that the total number was slightly higher than the preceding year. Of course, that was in the aftermath of the pandemic. It is believed the slight surge was the joint result of graduating college seniors seeking a safe harbor until the economy recovered and the availability of taking the LSAT online. After such a large number of applicants in 2021, why did that number decrease again? Many people speculate with Covid restrictions loosened and unemployment now relatively low, many potential law school applicants are pursuing other opportunities. Certainly, law school applicants are considering the costs of tuition and student loans, as well as their ability to pay off the loans. Potential applicants are investigating each school’s bar passage rate, starting salaries and employment rates to determine if law school is a worthy investment. Attending a prestigious law school increases the odds of achieving a large starting salary, but that’s only a small percentage. For most graduates, law school debt has outstripped salaries, especially for jobs outside of a large corporate law firm, which is most law positions. An employment and salary report from the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) states that the 2020 law school graduating class had an overall employment rate of 88.4% – nearly two percentage points lower than the prior year’s class. The US News & World Report states the median starting salary for a lawyer in the public sector is $60,000.00. For the private sector, the salary increases to $80,000.00. Many applicants are looking at law schools that are more affordable, so they are not saddled with insurmountable debt. They are also choosing middle tiered law schools because they have no intention of becoming lawyers. They know they can use their legal thinking skills and knowledge for other jobs, while receiving higher pay. It’s a faster path to repaying their loans and advancing their careers. They are also looking to the future and considering the profession’s emphasis on billable hours and the work-life balance challenges. They are searching introspectively to determine whether they would enjoy a job as an attorney. Of course, because of the impact of Covid, the recent decrease in applicants may not be of concern. It is probably a natural readjustment. However, there is more to the story than just the overall numbers. It’s where law school applications are down that may be a long-term concern for the profession. Law schools are seeing 14.2% fewer applicants scoring 170180, which is at the top range. They are also seeing 13.8% fewer applicants scoring in the 160-169 range. There was a stronger showing for those that scored in the 120-159 range. The bottom score is 120. When the number of applicants is down, law schools can choose to maintain their admissions standards and accept a decline in enrollment, or they can lower standards to keep up enrollment. The statistics are suggesting law students are not as high scholastically as they used to be. The statistics are also showing a large impact on diversity (at a time when bar associations are working hard to improve diversity). • Asian applicants are down -4.7%; • Hispanic/Latino applicants are down -5.6%; • Puerto Rican applicants are down -7.8%; • Black/African American applicants are down -10.0%; • American Indian/Alaska Native applicants are down -10.7%; • Not Indicated are down -11.3%; • Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander applicants are down -12.5%; and • Caucasian/White applicants are down -13.9%. Additionally, man applicants are down -12.3% and woman applicants are down -11.6%. Among the remaining gender categories, the largest increases are androgyne (+64.7%), additional gender category (+31.4%), and genderqueer or gender fluid (+16.9%). Looking at the data overall, it’s possible we are seeing a trend of people moving away from the legal profession, even after they’ve attended law school.