MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Although so many people in Memphis and Shelby County are struggling, some lawyers told WREG it shouldn’t be the reason they don’t have access to justice.
Attorneys sitting around a table in Downton Memphis on Tuesday take cases or give free legal advice almost every month, but October is special because it was recently deemed Pro Bono Month in Memphis and Shelby County.
The proclamation was important because Memphis Area Legal Services said the demand is there.
“If you look at 2014, we had appropriately 21,000 requests for legal services,” said Cindy Cole Ettingoff, the Director of Pro Bono Programs at Memphis Area Legal Services.
The lawyers lending a hand cannot always help everyone.
Therefore, a group is calling for more attorneys to go to free clinics or take on more pro bono work at their firms to help those in need.
“Having their — some ability to come to a lawyer and have someone express to them ‘yes you do have a case or no you don’t’ sometimes just means the world,” Sean Hunt said.
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