03/23/2017
Free Legal Advice For Jewish Clevelanders
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Article reprinted with permission from Beachwood Patch.
By Chris Mosby
If you need free legal advice, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, Gesher Cleveland, and IMPACT!, have you covered. The groups are collaborating to put on a free legal advice clinic on March 26.
The clinic will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Green Road Synagogue, 2437 S Green Rd. The clinic is open to low-income Jewish community members.
Notably, the lawyers at the clinic will provide legal advice for non-criminal matters only. Don't come forward looking for help with criminal matters. However, bring forth civil matters like landlord/tenant disputes, family issues, employment disputes, etc. All discussions between attendees and lawyers will be protected by lawyer-client confidentiality.
The clinic is open to walk-ins and appointments. Obviously, appointments are preferred and the groups ask that you call 216-593-2887 to setup an appointment.
This is the second legal advice clinic being offered to the Jewish community. Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s IMPACT! Attorney Liaison Mike Milgrom says the clinics were the result of community-research.
"Results of the 2011 Jewish Federation’s Population Study showed that nearly 40 percent of individuals and families in Jewish Cleveland are living at or below 200 percent of the poverty level," Milgrom told Patch in an email. "Many of these individuals are in need of professional services, especially legal advice, but cannot afford to pay for the service."
To help service that demographic of at-need peoples, the Jewish Federation launched IMPACT! in 2015. IMPACT! is a volunteer-based initiative for those 50 and older. Several members of the initiative are attorneys who were interested in providing Pro Bono guidance to low-income community members, Milford says.
"As a result IMPACT! partnered with The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and Gesher Cleveland to provide neighborhood Legal Advice Clinics for Jewish community members 4 times a year," he says.
The first clinic was held in November 2016. The March 26 event is the first legal clinic of 2017, with more to come.
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