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Help is Here,
T he thing people often forget about lawyers is that they
are human beings. I remember watching one young at
torney giving advice to a classroom full of first-year law
students (myself included, at the time). At the close of his
speech, as if remembering a personal tragedy, he shook his head
sadly and dramatically glared at the class.
"And never let anyone around you tell any lawyer jokes," he
said pointedly. "Those are inappropriate, and they distort the value
of our occupation."
There are hundreds of thousands of attorneys in this country,
and many of them would not hesitate to sue a wayward glance if a
judge would allow it. Attorneys are trained in school and through
out their careers on how use the law as a tool to get what their
clients need. Those who give the profession a bad reputation often
eschew morals in favor of their clients' demands, exploiting legal
loopholes or confounding juries to reach results favorable to few
but their client. At the same time, lawyers have been behind the
curtain of many of the nation's most successful social movements
and often dedicate hours of their time to volunteer work. They
constitute a formal line of attack, wielding a knowledge of the le
gal system that can be used to defend and implement the agenda
of grassroots activists or even just help someone get that to which
they are legally entitled.
C lint Zeagler was a prospective fashion designer several
years ago when he realized that he could use some help
legally protecting himself and his work. Zeagler wanted to
establish a corporation, a legal shield that would protect him from
being personally held liable should his company get sued. But at
torneys' fees for the work were exorbitant. And, of course, prospec
tive fashion designers are not necessarily loaded with money, so
hiring a lawyer seemed financially out of the question.
"Artists have a way of thinking that everything will work out,"
he says. "So, they are often the first ones to let lawyers go, be
cause they cannot afford them."
The impulse he explains is understandable: for financially-
strained artists, legal services are not a top priority. However,
a few weeks later, a fellow designer friend told Zeagler about a
group that was able to do the work, and not charge him for it: the
Georgia Lawyers for the Arts (GLA).
After contacting the organization, Zeagler was connected with
an attorney who did the work he needed on a volunteer basis.
Zeagler did not have to spend a penny on the legal services to get
his Atlanta-based clothing company—Pecan Pie Couture—fully
launched. Now, Zeagler continues to work with the organization
on issues ranging from taxes to copyrights as his business expands
across the Southeast.
"I don’t know where I would be without these guys," Zeagler
says. "The GLA is a wonderful bridge between people who need
help and people who can help."
in Athens and Across Georgia
For many artists in Athens, legal services do seem out of the
question. But plenty of resources exist to help with almost all of
the tricky situations they may find themselves in, from contract
disputes to copyright registration to just getting paid what was
promised.
G eorgia Lawyers for the Arts was founded in 1975 to serve
the growing Atlanta art community. It presently works to
serve anyone committed to a career in the arts, and has
clients in every county of the state.
"Our goal was just to support the arts, whether it was
through supporting arts organizations, cultivating
grassroots movements, providing legal aid to
artists, or helping people qualify for grants,"
says Ben White, one of GLA's two founders.
White and Bob Lower, two fresh
law school graduates, found
themselves in Atlanta at
a time when the artistic
community was growing.
Each was involved in
the arts: Lower sang
in a nationally recog
nized choral group
and White was a
painting enthusiast.
When the Georgia Bar
Association began
to seek out lawyers
willing to organize a group
that could provide basic legal aid to
artists in need. White and Lower
were recommended by their col- /sS'
leagues due to their creative
endeavors.
When compiling a pool
of attorneys who might be
willing to help the arts community
grow, the two found 105 initial vol
unteers ranging in specialties from tax
to First Amendment law. This group became
the initial core of GLA. Now, after 22 years,
the organization has over 500 attorneys on its
rolls and handles 5,000 cases a year. The offices are currently run
by a group of law student interns and one full-time staff member,
Executive Director Lisa Moore.
The organization is still looking to increase the amount of as
sistance it provides to Georgia's artists. That effort includes the
maintenance of a resource library with sample contracts and copy
right documents. Also, Moore conducts over 70 free copyright and
contract clinics each year in an effort to stop potential problems
from emerging. "These clinics are 'preventive medicine.' By educat
ing artists about the way the law can protect them now, they can
avoid other problems in the future," Moore says.
O n a local level, a group of UGA law students and profes
sors recently established their own organization to help
support Athens artists specifically.
In 2007, students affiliated with UGA Law's Public Interest
Practicum (PIP) began working with Nugi's Space to provide aid
^ to local artists with legal troubles and limited
incomes. Now, Nugi's Space has established
a referral service, where artists can be con
nected with law students for consultations on
core issues that may be part of the day-to-day
struggle of a career in the arts.
"Possible problems we deal with include housing,
health care planning, employment [and] consumer is
sues like buying and borrowing," says PIP faculty
advisor and law professor Alex Scherr. "PIP,
in general, is about serving the needs of
citizens who may not have easy access
to lawyers on legal issues relating to
the lack of income." PIP also works
to refer clients to GLA, or other local
attorneys, on a case-by-case basis for
copyright and contract issues.
Both PIP and GLA
are non-profit or
ganizations. Moore
says that the biggest
struggle for GLA is
balancing its caseload
with available resources.
"The biggest hurdle for
us right now is funding,"
she says. "We offer the
same services as similar
organizations in New
York and Los Angeles,
but with one-tenth of
the budget and the
staff."
Both of these organizations are available to serve Athens' art
ists, again, free of charge. To contact Georgia Lawyers foi the Arts,
call 404-873-3911, email gla@glarts.org, or visit www.glarts.org.
To contact UGA's Public Interest Practicum, email Alex Scherr at
scherr@uga.edu.
Trey Pollard
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