Are large urban law firms and corporate lawyers
interested in doing transactional work for rural
nonprofits serving underserved communities? In Georgia,
the answer is a resounding yes.
Georgia, the largest state east of the Mississippi
River, is home to 38 percent of the south's persistently
poor counties, all of which are rural. Seventy-two
percent of the 1 million people below the poverty line
live outside the five-county Atlanta metropolitan area.
Yet more than 70 percent of the approximately 24,000
active lawyers in the state practice in the five-county
Atlanta metro area. Since community economic development
can be an antidote to rural poverty, the challenge lies
in linking the business legal resources of Atlanta to
the legal needs of rural community-based organizations.
"Lawyers working to improve the lives of Georgians
and the communities in which they live."That is the
mission statement of ABC, A Business Commitment, an
initiative begun in 1998 to provide pro bono business
law services to community-based Georgia nonprofit
organizations. A joint project with the Georgia Legal
Services Program, it is guided by a State Bar of Georgia
committee. Initial support for the project was provided
by the ABA Section of Business Law Pro Bono Committee
with funding from the Ford Foundation.
Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP) provides legal aid
to low-income residents of 154 of the state's 159
counties. The program has been involved in community
economic development work for many years, so the pro
bono connection was a natural fit. Program staff, who
help identify potential client groups in rural areas of
the state, serve as liaisons and support for the big
city volunteer business lawyers.
Skipper StipeMaas represents the Sapelo Island Cultural
and Revitalization Society in working to secure title to
land, develop affordable housing and create job
opportunities for a community of descendants of slaves
on one of Georgia's coastal islands. The Atlanta-based
firm of Sutherland, Asbill and Brennan, LLP, is helping
StipeMaas and the group with negotiations on
conservation easements, ground leases and other matters.
The firm is also working with StipeMaas on land
acquisition and zoning, as well as environmental and
financing concerns, to develop the first resident-owned
mobile home park in Georgia, for People of Hope Inc.
(PoH). PoH was formed by residents of Athens, Ga., who
were evicted when their previous mobile home park was
sold to build upscale student housing. In recognition of
its commitment to working with rural nonprofit groups,
the law firm was the 2004 recipient of the National
Public Service Award.
The dream of Henry County Residential Housing Inc.
(HCRH) is to develop affordable housing. Located south
of Atlanta, Henry County has recently experienced
metropolitan sprawl of primarily high-end homes. With
funding from the Atlanta Federal Home Loan Bank, HCRH
broke ground on its first six homes but was soon faced
with a county-imposed impact fee that would have
complicated the planned financing and made the homes
unaffordable. GLSP lawyer Homero Leon enlisted the aid
of ABC to find a volunteer lawyer in the Atlanta office
of Holland & Knight to negotiate a waiver of the
impact fee.
These examples show how urban volunteer business lawyers
are helping to meet the needs of low-income rural
grassroots organizations working for community
improvement. The results of the Georgia model have shown
the value of a state-based intermediary, such as the ABC
project. ABC has served to link GLSP's rural community-
based nonprofit clients with urban volunteer business
lawyers. To advertise available matters and to promote
relationships between client groups and lawyers, ABC has
created a Web site: www.ABC-Georgia.org.
Holmen is executive director of the Georgia Legal
Services Program, in Atlanta. Her e-mail is
pholmen@glsp.org.
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