ISBA YLD Wills for HeroesISBA Young Lawyers to Provide Free Estate Planning Assistance to First Responders as a Public Service During the event, first responders receive assistance from volunteer attorneys in developing the essential legal documents to ensure their estates are in order. The Wills for Heroes Foundation was designed to help first responders including police officers, firefighters, paramedics, corrections and probation officers, in affiliation with local bar associations. The Wills for Heroes® program is unlike other clinic or pro bono legal programs in that it brings the program to the first responders’ doorstep, according to Gina Arquilla, a partner at Arquilla & Fink, Ltd., in Chicago, and chair of the ISBA Young Lawyers Division. “We are so pleased to be launching our public service project,” she said. “The ISBA Young Lawyers Division saw a need to help those whose job is to serve and protect, while providing young lawyers with the rewarding opportunity to deliver pro bono legal services.” In advance of the event, the participants receive an estate planning questionnaire to fill out. Upon arrival at the event site, typically scheduled by the host city, the first responder and his or her spouse or partner are assigned to attorneys who reviewed their questionnaires and input their information into laptops loaded with LexisNexis HotDocs® document assembly software. After a final review, the documents are signed, witnessed and notarized in a formal ceremony. On average, it takes about an hour to complete the estate planning documents. Some 20 young lawyers volunteered at the January 24 launch event. Co-chairs of the program are Matthew Huff, a solo practitioner, and Phillip Salerno, an associate at Deutsch, Levy & Engel, Chartered. Additional information about the Wills for Heroes® program can be obtained by calling or emailing Janet Sosin at the ISBA at (312) 726-8775. |
A public service program to provide first responders and their families with free legal assistance in preparing their wills and powers of attorney, is being offered by the Young Lawyers Division of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), in affiliation with the Wills for Heroes Foundation. The program was launched on January 24, 2009, for the firefighters of Matteson, Ill.