Legal Aid of East Tennessee

Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) was formed on January 1, 2002 with the merger of the Knoxville Legal Aid Society and Legal Services of Upper East Tennessee and the addition of most of the staff of Southeast Tennessee Legal Services (STLS) in the southern region of East Tennessee .  LAET is a full service legal services provider working in 26 counties in East Tennessee to meet the civil legal needs of those who cannot afford a lawyer.  It is the mission of Legal Aid of East Tennessee to ensure equal justice for low-income people by providing a broad scope of legal assistance and advocacy.  Legal Aid of East Tennessee works respectfully with individual clients and the client community to identify and meet their needs for legal representation and empowerment.  In pursuit of its mission, Legal Aid of East Tennessee seeks out and works cooperatively with other attorneys, social service providers, community-based organizations, and government and business leaders. 

The Southern Region of LAET has offices in Chattanooga and Cleveland .  The Chattanooga office services Hamilton, Bledsoe, Marion, Rhea and Sequatchie counties while the Cleveland office serves Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe and Polk Counties.  The Chattanooga office is staffed with five lawyers, two paralegals, one legal secretary, one intake coordinator and one pro bono director.   An Associate Director manages the Southern Region while a Managing Attorney directs the day-to-day activities of the Chattanooga office.  An Executive Director is responsible for overall program activities.  Anyone with a legal problem may call the Chattanooga office at 756-4013 and speak with the intake coordinator at extension 101.  All callers are initially screened for income.  To be eligible for services the caller must fall within 125% of the federal poverty level and either be a United States citizen or a documented alien.

            LAET handles legal matters in the following general substantive areas:  consumer (bankruptcy, contracts, collection, utilities, unfair sales practices, etc.), education, family law (adoption, divorce, custody, child support, domestic violence), juvenile, housing (public housing, private landlord/tenant, evictions, homeownership), health (TennCare, Medicare, Medicaid), benefits (unemployment, SSI, food stamps, Families First), individual rights and elder law, as well as any other civil matter not restricted by federal regulations.  LAET is not permitted to handle any criminal matter or any matter that is fee generating, including Worker’s Compensation.  Although LAET regularly handles matters in the areas listed above, a lack of resources prevents LAET from helping everyone who requests our services.  In fact, based on a legal needs study conducted in 2004 by the School of Social Work at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, it appears that we able to meet approximately 5% of the total civil legal need of the low-income residents of our service area.  Cases are screened closely for merit as well as other factors.   When LAET is unable to assist a potential client every effort is made to refer the person to the bar or to an appropriate service within the community where their needs might be met.

            In addition to direct client representation, LAET provides a number of other services to the client community, to the legal community and to the greater Chattanooga community.  LAET regularly conducts legal clinics at sites around the area where clients may come to hear a presentation on a particular topic and consult personally with an attorney.  Some of our most successful clinics have involved living wills and durable powers of attorney.  LAET staff is also available to speak with legal and community groups on any number of topics related to the practice of poverty law and the needs of the disadvantaged members of our community.  Members of the LAET staff also sit on various boards within our community and actively participate in projects of both the Chattanooga and Tennessee Bar Associations. Both the Executive Director and the Southern Region Associate Director are actively involved with the Tennessee Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee.  LAET also collaborates with a number of other community-based organization.  While these collaborations are too numerous to list here, the recent examples include participation as a founding member of the Chattanooga Family Justice Alliance and creation of the Chattanooga Housing Roundtable.  Another exciting new project is outreach and collaboration with the Hispanic community in Chattanooga  

            One project that has met with great success is the Self-Help Divorce Clinic project that LAET has developed.  This project allows people falling within LAET’s income guidelines to attend a daylong clinic to learn how to file their own divorce.  Not only is LAET able to assist those who cannot afford a lawyer to obtain an uncontested divorce, the project also allows local mediators to conduct pro bono mediations to help parents work out an agreed parenting plan.  This project has been in place in several of the counties served by LAET and is now being expanded into Hamilton  County with the first clinic scheduled for September 1 in our Chattanooga office.

           LAET is funded by several sources, including the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).  Since LAET is an LSC funded program, certain federal restrictions attach not only to funds received from LSC but also to funds received from other sources.  The restrictions include the inability to file any class action litigation, seek attorney fees, represent undocumented aliens, lobby and represent various other groups of individuals falling with in the restrictions. 

            In addition to LSC funding, the Southern Region of LAET currently receives funding from the following sources: IOLTA, State of Tennessee Civil Representation of Indigents Fund, Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, Area Agency on Aging and Disability, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, Tennessee Department of Human Services, Bradley County Bar Association, City of Chattanooga, HUD, Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, and the American Bar Association.  Much of this funding is directed to specific programs and projects that limit the work that the program staff can complete for others not falling within those projects.  The primary source of unrestricted funding comes from the LAET Annual Campaign for Justice and other fundraising projects, including Pro Bono Night.  All gifts made to LAET through these efforts are used exclusively to meet the needs of Chattanooga area residents and provide services through the Chattanooga office.
 

            LAET administers a pro bono program in the Chattanooga area that matches private attorneys with eligible clients.  Our pro bono director not only administers the program but also places cases, provides all follow up and performs other tasks associated with running a pro bono program.  There are many opportunities for attorneys to meet their ethical obligations under Rule 6.1, including direct client representation, conducting intake at the LAET office, participating in community education activities and various other activities.  Any attorney interested in participating in the pro bono project should contact Nancy Pagano, pro bono program director, at 756-4013, ext. 116.

            One opportunity to participate in both our annual campaign and our pro bono program is afforded through the 50/50 plan.   The 50/50 plan allows attorneys and others to be leaders in the fight for equal access to justice by pledging $50 per month and 50 hours per year of pro bono service.  50/50 plan members receive not only special recognition but also the satisfaction of knowing they are making a substantial contribution to meeting the vast unmet legal need in our community.  Anyone interested in helping LAET with a gift of money or time should contact Associate Director Russell Fowler at 756-4013, ext. 107.

            LAET is always exploring new and innovative ways to meet the needs of our clients and to be more involved in both the legal and larger community.  To this end LAET will be working with the Tennessee Bar Association as well as members of the Chattanooga Bar Association to form a local Access to Justice Committee.  This will be an effort to bring together various leaders in the community to address the vital question of meeting the legal needs of those who cannot afford a lawyer and providing equal access to justice for all in need.  There will be numerous opportunities in the near future to be involved in this exciting new project in our area.  This effort grows out of the involvement of LAET staff members on the Tennessee Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee. 

            Legal Aid of East Tennessee is the only full service legal services provider in Chattanooga .  While LAET handles many cases in the Chattanooga office, the local staff also have the support of the larger LAET program, which employs over 60 people in six offices throughout East Tennessee , making LAET one of the largest law firms in the area.  There is strong administrative, technical and human resources support within the program.   In addition, LAET is an active participant in the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services, the Tennessee Bar Association as well as many other state and national organizations.  These various affiliations allow LAET staff to have access to any number of local, state and national resources to best meet the needs of their clients and the larger legal community.  It is the goal of LAET to be a law firm that addresses the legal needs of the disadvantaged members of our community in the most effective and efficient manner possible.  This is accomplished through the hard work of the dedicated members of the Chattanooga office staff and through collaborations with others in the community concerned with the issue of access to justice.