Florida Free Legal Answers has answered more than 18,000 civil legal questions in its five years of existence
Five years after the Bar launched Florida Free Legal Answers, the numbers speak for themselves.
More than 1,000 volunteer attorneys in Florida have registered to answer more than 18,000 civil legal questions submitted by more than 16,000 indigent and low-income residents since May 1, 2017.
“Wonderful news,” says Gunster managing shareholder Bill Schifino, who guided the project to approval as Florida Bar president in 2016. “That’s 16,000 low-income clients who otherwise wouldn’t have had their legal issues addressed!”
Schifino is quick to share credit.
“It was a team effort in launching this program and has proven to be a cost-effective way to deliver free legal services to those truly in need,” he said. “Very proud to have been at the helm when our Board of Governors approved this excellent program to efficiently deliver legal services to the citizens of Florida.”
For the volunteer lawyer, the accent is on efficiency. Free Legal Answers demonstrated the value of remote technology long before COVID-19 added Zoom to the legal lexicon.
Sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, the virtual legal clinic allows lawyers to earn pro bono reporting credit from the comfort of home, any time of day or night.
Lawyers select questions from a variety of civil legal categories and answer anonymously.
The remote platform made it possible for Dennis Fountain to answer 5,455 questions in less than five years and claim the unofficial title of Florida’s most prolific volunteer.
The 70-year-old moved to rural Virginia a decade ago and is still winding down what remains of his Central Florida practice – two paying clients. He typically logs in to Free Legal Answers every morning around 7 a.m.
“I spend about three hours a day answering questions, but then, I answer a lot of questions,” he said. “I spend more time on pro bono than I do on law for profit – by a longshot.”
When he’s not answering Free Legal Answers questions, Fountain tends to his laying hens, garden, and maintaining his property. His neck of the woods lacks cell service, “and that’s why I moved here.”
Free Legal Answers makes it possible to give back to the community and still enjoy his serenity, Fountain said.
“Almost all of the questions that I see are a sincere attempt by someone who needs help to get help,” he said. “And I don’t mind helping people, I think that was a major motivator in why I became an attorney to start with, to be able to help people, and make a living doing it.”
Eric Buetens devotes about 125 hours a year to Florida Free Legal Answers, which has allowed him to answer 427 questions to date. He devotes the same amount of time to Indiana Free Legal Answers, where he is also licensed.
Buetens recently moved to Indianapolis after closing his civil practice in Hobe Sound, along Florida’s Treasure Coast.
“In my practice I always gave free advice and consultation, so it’s a continuation of what I have always done,” he said. “I just like being helpful and using what information and knowledge I picked up over the years.”
Buetens’ former practice was divided almost evenly between real estate and probate, so he tends to gravitate to those categories when he goes online. Every lawyer should donate time to Free Legal Answers, he said.
“I’m putting a special appeal out for more family law attorneys,” he said. “Those are the questions that are going unanswered the most.”
The idea for the program blossomed in Tennessee in 2009 when former ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono Public Service Chair Buck Lewis was touring his home state with Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Janet M. Holder to promote pro bono service.
Despite Justice Holder’s presence, lawyers in every meeting were addicted to typing on their newfangled Blackberry phones, Lewis recently told an ABA Business Law Section podcast.
“I thought, if they can answer questions for regular paying clients on their Blackberry’s, anywhere and anytime, can they answer pro bono questions anywhere and anytime?”
Lewis approached his law firm’s tech team to develop a statewide platform in 2010. He took the idea to his ABA committee, and after winning board approval, a national platform was launched in 2016 with the help of corporate sponsorship. Individual states — 40 jurisdictions are now live for client access — provide their own staff support.
Nationwide, more than 10,472 attorneys have registered since the initial launch, and Florida, with 1,012 volunteers, leads the pack.
Tennessee, the next closest, has 967 volunteer lawyers, followed by Illinois with 952 and Texas with 720.
The Florida program logged 20,838 questions by March 31, 2022, and answered 18,059, for an 87% answer rate.
The national average hovers between 70% and 75%, estimates Florida Bar Programs Division Assistant Director Frank Digon-Greer.
Digon-Greer is proud of the program’s success, but he’s not ready to rest on his laurels.
“The 87% is well above the national average, but the goal is to really hit the 90% mark, and remain there consistently,” he said.
The program typically averages about 500 questions a month.
Lewis, the Tennessee lawyer and former ABA Pro Bono and Public Service chair, said his “access to justice work” has brought him the most satisfaction in his 40-year legal career.
He urges any lawyer who hasn’t volunteered to give Free Legal Answers a try.
“You can do it in your pajamas, you can do it while at your child’s soccer game, you can do it while waiting for your flight to take off,” he said. “This is all about making sure that you don’t miss out on the joy of helping people with the benefit of your legal training.”
