The Florida Bar

Florida Bar News

Free Legal Answers, an easy way to do pro bono

Senior Editor Top Stories

Free Legal AnswersAn ABA study is underscoring the economic and social potential of Free Legal Answers, the web-based pro bono program, at a time when a strategic billboard campaign is boosting awareness in Florida to new heights.

Released September 16, the national study determined, among other things, that Free Legal Answers is enjoying a 700% rate of return, generating $7.3 million in “social capital” in 2018 alone.

That’s good news for Florida, which has consistently led the nation in terms of participation by volunteer attorneys, followed closely by Tennessee, where the program started, and Texas.

According to the latest statistics, 846 Florida lawyers were fielding questions from 9,580 registered accounts and scoring a 79% answer rate, as of November 19.

Frank Digon-Greer, assistant director, Programs Division for The Florida Bar, says a perfect example of the program’s ripple effect is a volunteer attorney helping a veteran or elder Free Legal Answers client secure Veteran’s Administration or Social Security benefits.

“There is a social impact,” Digon-Greer says. “The client gets the benefits, and then that money goes straight back into the economy.”

Released September 16, the ABA study shows that the three-year-old program has recruited 5,300 volunteer lawyers in 41 jurisdictions and elicited 58,813 questions. The study puts the combined value of the donated legal hours at $1.7 million.

The study weighs a host of variables, tangible, and intangible, and excludes tertiary benefits or multipliers, to attach a dollar value to the social capital. The authors call the method “prosocial valuation.”

“People with access to health care and legal representation regardless of ability to pay, are richer than people without such access,” the authors wrote.

Free Legal Answers in Florida is getting a boost from donated space on 16 digital billboards in key corridors. The message has been flashed to motorists on heavily trafficked corridors along I-95 in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, as well as along major corridors in Ocala, Gainesville, and Panama City.

Market surveys show the nearly $66,000 in donated billboard messaging has generated slightly more than 10 million “monthly impressions.”

One key Florida Free Legal Answers volunteer, former Bar President Michael Higer, calls participation in the program, “the right thing to do.”

“Free Legal Answers provides an easy, meaningful way for lawyers to help people who need a lawyer and otherwise would not be able to find a lawyer,” Higer said. “It is so simple, and it really only takes a few minutes of our time and each of us has a few minutes we can spare to help someone in need.”

Free Legal Answers is limited to civil matters and serves only clients who earn up to 250% of the federal poverty level and own less than $10,000 in assets. For an individual, that’s an income of less than $30,350 — or $62,750 for a family of four. Participants must be 18 and not incarcerated.

Clients post their questions and wait for an individualized response from an attorney identified only by number. Volunteer attorneys learn enough about the questioners and their potential adversaries to avoid conflicts of interest.

Volunteer attorneys earn credit toward annual pro-bono reporting requirements. But they consistently report that convenience and choice are the biggest benefits. Volunteers get to pick the questions and they get to answer them whenever they have time to login.

Digon-Greer said the program is always in need of attorneys with family law experience.

While Florida’s answer rate is better than the national average, one of the biggest challenges is overcoming a sophomore slump. Volunteer participation tends to decline after the novelty of answering questions online wears off, Digon-Greer says.

At least once a month, Digon-Greer sends out helpful tips and reminders to pick up the pace.

“Right now, there’s 24 questions pending, so I just sent out an email blast saying, ‘Hey, we have 846 participating lawyers, let’s hit zero,” he says. “Other states have hit zero, but we’ve never hit zero.”

News in Photos