New Legal Aid Office opens | Business

Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) has opened a legal aid office in Baton Rouge to help low-income people with housing, foreclosure defense, onsumer, public benefits, family and other civil cases. Baton Rouge attorney, Janice McAlpine, is the new Directing Attorney for SLLS's Baton Rouge office, which SLLS plans to staff with 10 ull-time attorneys to serve the Greater Baton Rouge community.

SLLS was recently selected by the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to receive federalfunding for civil legal aid in Baton Rouge and other parishes previously served by the Capital aea Legal Services. The LSC grant began in July. But, the entire LSC grant for the Baton Rouge rea will not be available to SLLS until January.

With only limited funding for the next few months, SLLS has started to provide legal aid to Baton Rouge residents who face serious emergencies that threaten them with loss of homes, children, survival income, defenses to lawsuits, for example:

foreclosure defenses and bankruptcies to save homes

eviction defenses of subsidized housing tenants

utility cut-offs

terminations of disability, unemployment, public benefits

lawsuits in custody and consumer cases

SLLS has awarded a subcontract to the Baton Rouge Bar Association (BRBA) to provide free pro bono legal aid for non-emergency family, consumer, housing and employment cases. This pro bono partnership with the BRBA will enable SLLS to immediately provide some non-emergency legal aid in Baton Rouge. When full LSC funding is available in January, SLLS will provide a broad range of legal aid through its 10 Baton Rouge staff attorneys and the BRBA pro bono project.

"The Baton Rouge Bar Association congratulates and welcomes SLLS in Baton Rouge. SLLS is off to a great start and has already begun to establish a close relationship with the Baton Rouge legal community. The Bar Association looks forward to a long, fruitful partnership as we continue to provide free legal services to the poor of our community, " said Preston Castille, President of the Baton Rouge Bar Association.

The new Directing Attorney for SLLS's Baton Rouge office is Baton Rouge attorney, JaniceMcAlpine. Ms. McAlpine has extensive experience running legal aid programs and supervising legal work. She has been an executive director, managing and staff attorney of other legal aid programs and a clinical law school professor for more than 25 years. Ms. McAlpine is a 1979 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Most recently, she has been Director of Legal Services for the Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless in Baton Rouge. Ms. McAlpine has also actively served on the Baton Rouge bar's Pro Bono Committee.

SLLS is currently hiring more attorney staff for its Baton Rouge office. On Ms. McAlpine's hiring, Randy Nichols, Director of the Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless, said "the new Baton Rouge legal aid office is fortunate to have Janice McAlpine as its directing attorney. She brings a wealth of experience in working with disadvantaged clients and in mentoring attorneys and other professionals for this work. Janice's service to clients of Capital Alliance for the Homeless has been outstanding."