Please Save the Date for our annual Fundraiser

VLSP’s annual fundraising event, a Phonathon, will take place on September 14, 2010 at KVIE Studios in Sacramento.  If you would like to help out at this event, or get further information, please contact us at vlsp@vlsp.org.   We are always looking for new callers to join us at this event.   We hope to see you there.

VLSP’s Civil Self-Help Center has a new home

Effective July 16, 2010, the Civil Self-Help Center, operated for the past 3 years by the Voluntary Legal Services Program, has “changed hands” and is now a project solely of the Sacramento County Public Law Library.  The Civil Self-Help Center has been located at the Law Library for the past year, and the staff of the Law Library has successfully integrated the project into its library operations.  The Civil Self-Help Center will continue to offer services to self-represented litigants with civil legal matters pending in the downtown court of the Sacramento County Superior Court.  VLSP is pleased that this project will continue to offer the important services needed in our community for those who are unable to afford the assistance of counsel as they navigate through the court system.  For further information about the Civil Self-Help Center, please see the web site for the Sacramento County Public Law Library:  www.saclaw.org

New State Bar Conflict of Interest Rule enables more private attorneys to participate in VLSP’s Clinics

On July 29, 2009, the state Supreme Court approved new Rule 1-650 of the State Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct which will make it far easier for private attorneys employed in law firms to volunteer for pro bono work, as it makes clear that (1) a systematic check for a conflict of interest by such attorneys, with respect to a pro bono client in a short-term, limited provision of services context, is generally unnecessary; and (2) disqualification of one attorney in a firm due to an actual conflict of interest generally will not be imputed to other attorneys in the firm.

The legal services community has been advocating strongly for this rule change throughout the many years that this revision has made its way through the State Bar process.  VLSP hopes that this change in the Rules will encourage more private law firms to volunteer at VLSP’s Pro Per Clinics.  Please feel free to contact us to discuss how this change in the rules might impact your law firm.