CROWDER LAW CENTER

350 S. FIGUEROA STREET, SUITE 190
LOS ANGELES, CA 90071
Tel. 800-455-1592
Fax 877-772-7094
Email info@crowderlaw.com

PRO BONO

The term “pro bono” comes from a Latin phrase meaning "for the public good". It is generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment as a public service. The State Bar of California encourages all of its members to provide at least 50 hours per year of pro bono services. Although most attorneys do provide some pro bono services, The need for legal services among the poor is overwhelming, there are simply not enough pro bono providers to fill the need. According to an American Bar Association study, at least 40% of low and moderate-income households experience some type of legal problem each year. Yet the collective legal aid effort is meeting only about 20% of the legal needs of low-income people. There are over 6 million Californians who live below the poverty level, but fewer than 800 legal aid attorneys to serve them.

The Crowder Law Center is proud to offer pro bono services to needy individuals facing more debt than they can pay.

RULES

If you cannot afford an attorney, but are in need of legal assistance in handling your debt load, here are the rules for obtaining our pro bono services.

FIRST: Our pro bono services will be limited to the following areas:

a) Bankruptcy.

b) Alternatives to bankruptcy, including debt settlement and creditor intervention.

c) Creditor harassment.

d) Advice regarding collection lawsuit defense.

We realize there are many other types of legal problems for which pro bono services are needed, but these are the areas of law that we know.

SECOND: Realize that we may not be able to provide you with the services you need and want. We simply won’t have the resources to help everyone who needs help.

The least that we will do is provide an email from an attorney addressing your situation. We are in the process of preparing a series of free e-books to provide general legal information about a variety of subjects. When we have finished one that will help your situation, we will send you that as well.

We will endeavor to make a phone call to you as well, although we cannot guarantee that we will have the available time to do so.

THIRD: Our pro bono services aren’t totally “free.” We will want something in exchange from you. First, if you feel that our legal services were of benefit to you, we will ask you for a “Thank You” letter, if nothing more. The reason we want these is so that we can show others that we do a good job with the types of cases we handle.

If you have more debt than you can handle, and can’t afford an attorney’s fees, please fill out the following questionnaire, and we will respond as soon as we can.

QUESITONNAIRE

* Required Fields

First Name:*

Last Name:*

City:*

State:*

Email:*

Confirm Email:*

Best telephone number to reach you at:*

Alternate phone number:*

Best time to call:*

Tell us briefly about your situation:*

Approximate total unsecured debt
(credit card, medical, personal loans):

Tax debt owing:

Approximate secured debt (home mortgages):

Have any lawsuits been filed against you?

Yes No

Are any bill collectors harassing you?

Yes No

Are you requesting “Pro Bono” (free) legal service?

Yes No

If so, please answer the additional questions:

What is your monthly household income?

Number of people in household?

If not covered above, are there any unusual circumstances contributing to a financial hardship?

Contributions to Society:
(Because there will be a much larger demand for pro bono legal services than our attorneys can fill, we must allocate our time and resources to where they will benefit society the most. Therefore, we will be more likely to assist those who have contributed to the betterment of society. Contributions can include efforts to clean up and protect the environment, education, crime prevention, drug rehabilitation, disaster relief, volunteer work for charitable organizations, or even helping to raise children to become productive members of society.)

Can you afford to pay anything toward legal services?
(Whether we get paid for our services or not, we still have our overhead expenses to cover – rent, phone, salaries for assistants, secretarial service. Anything that you can contribute will help us continue to provide pro bono services to other needy individuals.)


350 S. FIGUEROA STREET, SUITE 190, LOS ANGELES, CA 90071	Tel. 800-455-1592 Fax 877-772-7094