Spotlight on pro bono

In a statewide environment where low-income individuals and families face upwards of a million civil legal problems without professional assistance, the Lake County Bar Association is striving to fill its part of the gap.

The association's Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP), in coordination with Prairie State Legal Services in Waukegan, enlisted 59 members during the past year to provide legal help for indigents in the community; 31 of them closed cases in the 12 months before Sept. 1.

In addition, 21 of the 59 volunteers serve on the LCBA Legal Aid Committee and several also are members of the Campaign for Legal Services Leadership Committee, which holds its kickoff celebration Nov. 15.

The association paid tribute to three outstanding volunteers during its annual awards luncheon Sept. 25 in the Waukegan City Council chambers.

LCBA past president Deborah L. Goldberg of Waukegan, a member of the ISBA Assembly, received the Wayne B. Flanigan Award in recognition of extraordinary contributions to delivery of legal services to indigent county residents.

The award is named in memory of a former Lake County Bar president who was a role model in delivery of legal services to those who could not afford representation.

Goldberg has represented hundreds of clients and, as a bilingual, has been the de facto Spanish Advice Clinic in the Volunteer Lawyers Program for about 50 clients in marriage dissolution and guardianship cases.

As chair of the Legal Aid Committee, she and her partner, Kevin Kane, have conducted divorce training seminars for inexperienced attorneys, and have recruited and mentored many new volunteers.

The association also honored Deanna J. Bowen of Gurnee and David P. Leibowitz of Waukegan as recipients of VLP Awards.

Bowen, an active VLP member since she was admitted to the bar in 1998, also has served on the legal services campaign leadership committee.

During the past nine years, she has represented 16 domestic violence victims in lengthy dissolution cases, providing critical legal help as pro bono clients and their families struggle to break legal ties with abusers.

Leibowitz, a member of the VLP referral panel and LCBA Legal Aid Committee, has represented 24 pro bono clients in Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases during the past 10 years.

He has helped working people restore utility services, get back to work after accidents with uninsured motorists, and preserve wages they needed to feed families. He also has advised scores of clients about debt collection issues in monthly walk-in advice clinics.

Leibowitz kept the VLP bankruptcy program going when changes in bankruptcy laws caused many attorneys to decline volunteer representation. He is a top contributor to the Campaign for Legal Services.

The awards were presented by Prairie State's managing attorney, Linda A. Rothnagel, as credentials of the recipients were related by WGN-TV news anchor Jackie Bange.

Immigration law is at the forefront of American politics. Currently, news is largely focused on the topic of legalization for longtime illegal immigrants residing in the United States.

Although this much awaited “amnesty” has not occurred, there is still a great need for pro bono attorneys in the area of immigration law. In fact, now more than ever, residents who can naturalize should become U.S. citizens.

A permanent resident is not required to become a citizen, and may reside in the U.S. indefinitely as a permanent resident. However, a permanent resident may wish to naturalize because of the benefits of becoming a citizen.

As a U.S. citizen, one can exit and enter the country without any regard to time spent outside of the U.S. A permanent resident must be careful not to abandon his or her status by leaving the U.S. for an extended period of time.

As a U.S. citizen, one is entitled to certain public benefits that a permanent resident may not receive. Additionally, a U.S. citizen may petition for the admission of alien relatives to the United States – such as a brother or sister - that cannot be petitioned for by a permanent resident.

Processing times for relatives of U.S. citizens are generally much shorter than processing times for relatives of permanent residents. Finally, U.S. citizens can vote, unlike permanent residents, thereby affecting change in our immigration policies.

In general, an alien must be admitted to permanent resident status to be eligible to become a naturalized citizen of the United States. The permanent resident must reside in the U.S. for a continuous period prior to the filing of the naturalization application.

If an alien is not married to an American citizen, he or she must reside in the U.S. for a continuous period of five years as a permanent resident. But if an alien is married to a U.S. citizen, he or she must reside in the U.S. for a continuous period of three years as a permanent resident.

An alien who leaves the U.S. for a period of more than six months may lose his or her permanent resident status.

An alien applying for naturalization must physically reside in the U.S. for one-half the period of continuous residence.

Thus, an alien not married to a U.S. citizen would have to be physically present in the U.S. for 30 months within the five-year period. An alien married to a U.S. citizen would have to be physically present in the U.S. for 18 months within the three-year period.

Further, the prospective citizen must demonstrate the following: that he or she has the ability to read, write and speak ordinary English; has a knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of U.S. history and government, and is of good moral character.

Many aliens who may qualify to become U.S. citizens are unaware of the benefits of naturalization, or are simply put off by the paperwork and bureaucracy of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

That is why pro bono attorneys are desperately needed in this area of law. Interested attorneys can volunteer with the agencies listed below to provide assistance.

Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, (312) 347-8352.

National Immigrant Justice Center (formerly the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center), (312) 660-1307.

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