Veterans’ questions answered by ACBA volunteers
By Lisa M. Wolfe and Lorrie K. Albert
For The Lawyers Journal
March 17, 2006—Approximately 600 deserving military members, veterans, and their families received much-needed advice as a result of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s first-ever Military and Veterans Legal Advice Day.
The idea for this event came about in two distinct ways. Tom Loftus, the ACBA’s Director of Media and Public Relations, remembered reading an article about World War II stating that nearly 1,000 World War II veterans are dying everyday. Loftus wanted to find a way for the ACBA to do something for the veterans that have done so much for this country over the years as well as men and women currently serving in the military.
At the same time, the ACBA was working to form the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee to assist both active-duty military members and veterans with legal issues they may be facing.
Loftus and the committee came together and developed the idea to partner with KDKA-TV for Military and Veterans Legal Advice Day. PNC, a strong supporter of the ACBA and its events, was happy to sponsor this worthy project. This four hour call-in program was held Feb. 22 from 4 to 8 p.m.
“The committee really recognized a need in our community,” said Bob Racunas, ACBA President. “After recognizing the needs of our men and women in the military, as well as our veterans and their families, the committee was able to quickly mobilize and put this event together.”
“We had no trouble getting volunteers on board,” Loftus said. “Our members were proud to be associated with such an event. In fact, we had more volunteers than we were able to use.”
To ensure all the volunteer attorneys felt comfortable answering calls from military members, veterans, and their families, Lorrie Albert, the ACBA’s Pro Bono Coordinator, arranged with the Pennsylvania Bar Institute to present “Legal issues affecting military personnel,” a continuing legal education program previously used by the both the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations to train volunteers interested in learning more about issues affecting military members.
In addition, Bridget Gillespie, a former Army JAG and chair of the available services list subcommittee, along with Margaret Cassidy and Michael McCarthy, put together a comprehensive manual that volunteer attorneys could reference during the call-in program.
“We got together to brainstorm on what types of calls we would receive,” said Gillespie. “We figured many calls would be a hybrid between legal issues and veterans benefits concerns, and we wanted to provide materials useful for a variety of situations.”
This being the first time an event like this has been held for such a niche audience, Loftus wasn’t sure what the military response would be.
With each volunteer receiving an average of 16 calls, on topics ranging from veterans benefits and pensions to divorce and bankruptcy, it was obvious the community has a need for events like of this type to be held in the future.
Charles “Chip” Holsworth, chair of the Military and Veterans Committee, believes the program was an overwhelming success as far as providing a worthy service to the military and veteran community. However, Holsworth was surprised by the number of callers requesting information about veterans benefits, an area many volunteer attorneys were not familiar with. Questions the volunteer attorneys were unable to answer were referred to the appropriate administrative agency.
“I think we provided a useful service,” said Gillespie. “I had several callers specifically say ‘thank you for doing this and taking time to answer my questions.’ I would be more than willing to participate in this event in the future.”