Added Benefit to Being a Volunteer Attorney at Community Law Program – Free Training

There are many professional benefits to being a volunteer attorney and assisting vulnerable clients at the Community Law Program. Our many advantages include malpractice insurance, Stetson Law students available to assist our volunteer attorneys, periodic training seminars, mentor attorneys, and uses of our facility's offices are always available upon request. There is also the professional responsibility and fulfilling Rule 4-6.1 which establishes that Florida Bar attorneys perform twenty (20) hours of pro bono legal services to the indigent. As a convenience to our volunteer attorneys, Community Law Program keeps track of these hours. However, another valuable benefit includes free training resources available to our volunteer attorneys, which covers a variety of legal topics. Additionally, there is the opportunity to obtain free Florida Bar approved CLE courses within many areas of law. No, this is not a typo, I did say free.

Through the use of a well defined library via website, one can easily access training materials, videos, case law, administrative decisions, case documents, webinars and even future training sessions, etc. A number of areas of law can be searched by either folder or topic and include family, bankruptcy, housing (which include mortgage foreclosure), consumer, employment, civil rights, and legal skills, along with many more subject specific legal issues. There is even training for someone new to assisting pro bono clients entitled: Legal Needs of Low-Income Floridians. This material covers the many issues an attorney may encounter when assisting our vulnerable clients. I find this to be an exceptional asset to anyone new to pro bono work.

The process to get started is simple. You may contact the Community Law Progam at (727) 582-7480 for specific instructional information then just go online to a website and click on Join This Site. You will then be instructed to fill-in field information to sign up and join. Depending on the type of training you want to sign up for, a protected password will be sent to you. This mainly applies to CLE training. Attorneys wanting CLE then only need to email Community Law Program in order to access the CLE number. You then can login in and choose your training topics. The biggest advantage I feel is the convenience one has with the available CLE webinars. These can be viewed from anywhere and at anytime. Perhaps, even viewed at 10 p.m., from your home, and while wearing your most comfortable clothes. For more information on these training opportunities, please contact the Community Law Program at (727) 582-7480.

Elizabeth Porcelli, FRP
Clinic Coordinator/Paralegal