Arizona Pro Bono Legal Information, Resources and Assistance
Arizona Pro Bono General Overview: The Arizona State Bar provides pro bono services through two organizations: Lawyers on Call and Will’s for Heroes.
Lawyers on Call: enables members of the public to get their legal questions answered by volunteer lawyers. The lawyers answer calls from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month. The number to call is 602-258-1212. Each month, the program features a different topic of law. (See schedule below). The lawyers who volunteer for the phone bank each month are specifically trained in that area of law. For that reason questions should be limited to that month’s topic of law.
2009 Lawyers on Call Schedule
| Month | Topic |
|---|---|
| July 7th | Foreclosures and Evictions |
| August 4th | Employment Law and Wrongful Termination |
| September 1st | Divorce and Child Support |
| October 6th | Elder Law |
| November 3rd | Estate Planning |
| December 1st | Bankruptcy |
Will’s for Heroes: provides free estate planning legal services to first responder personnel in Arizona. The volunteer attorneys will help the client establish a basic Will and powers of attorney. For large estates (over $750,000) or complicated probate matters, you will be referred to a panel of attorneys who will help you for a reduced fee.
All Arizona “first responders,” other than enlisted and reserve military members, are eligible for this free service. It must be coordinated through their employer. Those eligible include:
- Police officers
- Corrections officers
- Probation Officers
- Firefighters
The program also offers free Wills to the emergency responder’s spouse or widow/widower.
In order to take advantage of the programs services contact the Wills for Heroes team to make an appointment and set up a specific time and location for your group’s members to get free legal assistance. Information will be provided to you in advance so the people who need legal assistance will have time to gather appropriate paperwork and information. A group of attorneys will arrive at your location and work with each emergency responder to discuss his/her matter in a confidential manner. The emergency worker will sit down with a lawyer, who will ask questions and input the information into a computer. Together they will produce the appropriate legal documents at the site and have it notarized. The goal is to complete the entire process in one meeting.
The links below provide a more detailed explanation of the Wills for Heroes program as well as the Estate Planning Questionnaire. Each first responder and their spouse or partner must complete a separate Estate Planning Questionnaire form before meeting with the Wills for Heroes attorney. If you use Microsoft Word, you can type your answers in the document on-screen and then print it. Otherwise, you can print the Adobe Acrobat PDF version to fill out manually.
Estate Planning Questionnaire (Microsoft Word
Estate Planning Questionnaire (Adobe Acrobat)
For additional information on wills and trusts
Arizona Pro Bono Contacts:
State Bar of Arizona
4201 N. 24th Street, Suite 200
Phoenix, Arizona 85016-6288
Phone: 602-252-4804 (from within Maricopa County)
866-482-9227 (toll-free outside Maricopa County)
Fax: 602-271-4930
Southern Regional Office/Tucson
270 N Church Ave., Ste. 100
Tucson, Arizona 85701-2215
Phone: 520-623-9944
For more information on Lawyers on Call email the program coordinator:
rachael.myer@staff.azbar.org
For more information on Will’s for Heroes and to set up an appointment for lawyers to help your group, Contact the State Bar at:
sba.wfh@azbar.org
http://www.willsforheroes.org/
Additional Information Links:
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/freehelp.cfm?id=AZ
References: Arizona State Bar
