By Julie Bays, OBA Management Assistance Program Director

This week I received a note from the ABA National Pro Bono Manager that made me stop and smile.

Every year, the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service recognizes attorneys across the country who have provided extraordinary volunteer service through the Free Legal Answers program. To qualify, a lawyer must answer at least 50 client questions in a year.

Three Oklahoma lawyers did far more than that.

• Paula D. Wood answered 193 questions.
• Timothy C. Dowd answered 145 questions.
• Travis C. Smith answered 73 questions.

In fact, many lawyers may not realize how easily they can provide meaningful pro bono service through Oklahoma Free Legal Answers. By answering questions online, one at a time, on a flexible schedule, attorneys can make a real impact. This user-friendly platform offers a simple way for lawyers to help others, even if they have never participated before.

If you are not familiar with Oklahoma Free Legal Answers, it is a program developed by the ABA and administered here in Oklahoma through the Oklahoma Bar Association. It connects low-income Oklahomans with volunteer attorneys who provide brief legal advice online. Clients post civil legal questions, and approved volunteer attorneys log in when they have time and answer the questions they choose.

You are never assigned a question. You can answer as many or as few as you want. In fact, the system limits volunteers to five open questions at a time so no one gets overwhelmed.

The types of questions are exactly what you would expect: family law, landlord-tenant, small claims, basic consumer issues. The kinds of problems people face every day but often cannot afford to pay a lawyer to ask about.

The clients who qualify must be below 250% of the federal poverty level, not incarcerated, over 18, and have limited assets.

And here is the part many lawyers don’t realize. Lawyers remain anonymous and are covered by an ABA professional liability policy for the advice they give through the system.

For Paula, Timothy, and Travis, that “simple” act turned into hundreds of real people who received help they otherwise would not have had. And they did it on their own schedule.

That is what makes this program so powerful.

If you have ever thought, I want to do more pro bono work, but I don’t know how to fit it into my schedule, this is your answer.

You can register at oklahoma.freelegalanswers.org and click on the Volunteer Attorney Registration. Once your membership is verified, you can log in at any time and browse questions in areas you feel comfortable answering.

Congratulations to Paula, Timothy, and Travis for their incredible pro bono service. You set a wonderful example for the rest of us.

And if you have not signed up yet, maybe this is the nudge you needed.