During spring break, when most students were enjoying some time away from school, whether by visiting the beach or just relaxing, groups of students from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Florida Coastal School of Law volunteered to assist people in need.
The students shared the same goal: To create important legal documents for people who might otherwise not have gotten the help they needed through a project called “Legal Documents That Matter: Name Change and Advance Directives.”
Students were trained by attorneys in each substantive area and assisted clients.
The name change training was presented by Rusty Mead and Aaron Irving.
The advance directives training was presented by Robert Morgan and Debbie Lee-Clark.
The students from the University of Florida who participated included Cate Nowak, Brianna Williams, Brooke Taylor, Kaci Poor, Stacey Stanfield and Tiffany Hope Brewer.
Florida Coastal students who participated were Shannon Price, Tracie Reese, Ciara Henderson, Christopher McMaster and Xavier Romero.
Suzanne Love and Lorna Jones-Stutson volunteered to notarize documents.
Integrity Law, Jim Moody, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and Mead provided financial support.
Linda Giroux, pastor at Riverside United Church of Christ, offered her Fellowship Hall to provide a trusted location where the name-change petitions and advance-directives documents were created.
Circuit Judge Hugh Carithers scheduled time at the conclusion of each spring break week to review the petitions of the name-change clients and sign final judgments.
Five clients received their name-change documents because of the work of the students, attorneys, notaries and Carithers. Five clients received their final judgments for legal name changes and 13 senior citizens completed advance directives documents.
Offering advance directives services to low-income seniors is a worthwhile effort in which attorneys and law students collaborate to provide assistance.
The project is a new opportunity available to attorneys and law students. Volunteers helped establish the project as another legal resource available to low-income and underserved people.
Sincere appreciation is extended to the students, attorneys, Carithers and all who supported the implementation of the spring break project.
Attorneys interested in pro bono opportunities in the 4th Judicial Circuit may contact [email protected].