Pro Bono Spotlight: VLSP volunteers – Make sure to report hours accurately

By Linda Kostin
Posted: 5:54 pm Tue, February 7, 2012

For Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County’s legion of dedicated volunteers, reporting the hours they so generously spend on VLSP matters may seem like a small thing. This is understandable, given the fact that our volunteers are focused on obtaining the best result possible for their pro bono clients.

But because VLSP is required to provide our volunteers’ hours to our funders, it’s vitally important for volunteers to report their hours to us. Volunteer hours are VLSP’s lifeblood. They provide quantifiable data that VLSP uses to secure funding for our program.

Now you know the importance of accurately reporting volunteer hours to VLSP. Please take a few minutes to complete and return any VLSP case update forms or case closure forms you may have received. If you need a form, contact me.

You can also help us continue to help our clients by completing and returning VLSP forms you receive in the future.

The number of volunteer hours reported is one sign of VLSP’s success. Therefore, it’s essential that volunteers accurately report their hours.

For the 2011 fiscal year,  5,302.93 volunteer attorney hours were reported in VLSP’s 2011 Audited Financial Statement, available online at www.vlsprochester.org. VLSP believes the true number of donated attorney hours is probably significantly higher. Perhaps one-third again or even twice as many hours are not being reported.

Some volunteers have candidly remarked that they do not report all the hours they spend on VLSP matters. This is particularly true of newly admitted attorneys and attorneys who step outside their usual practice area to assist VLSP clients in an unfamiliar area of law. Rather than reporting all their time, there is a tendency to report the time they feel they “should” have spent on the matter. Their additional volunteer hours are written off and not reported to VLSP.

This, too, is understandable. Attorneys in private practice generally do not bill clients for the time they spend getting up to speed in a particular area. However, this time is properly included when reporting hours spent on pro bono matters.

Accurately reporting hours is helpful for VLSP’s volunteers, as well.

As an accredited provider of mandatory continuing legal education, VLSP is able to issue CLE credit to attorneys for volunteering. Volunteers are eligible to receive one CLE credit for every six 50-minute hours of pro bono service (one credit for every 300 minutes of volunteer service). All that’s required is a letter to VLSP requesting CLE credit and an affirmation of services. Attorneys are allowed a maximum of six CLE credits per two-year reporting cycle for providing pro bono service.

Accurately reporting volunteer hours also helps attorneys receive recognition for their work on behalf of low-income people in our community.

For example, the New York State Bar Association’s Empire State Counsel program provides special recognition to NYSBA members who provide 50 hours or more of pro bono legal services in a calendar year. Empire State Counsel designees are honored at the annual Justice for All Luncheon held in New York City as part of the NYSBA’s week-long annual meeting in January.

The honorific title “Empire State Counsel” may be used as a credential. Those honored also receive a certificate, suitable for framing; a ribbon, and a lapel pin embossed with the unique Empire State Counsel logo.

Fourteen Rochester attorneys qualified for the 2011 Empire State Counsel Program by volunteering 50 or more hours through VLSP, giving generously of their time and talents to represent clients in diverse matters including immigration, tort, divorce, custody, support, name change, tax and bankruptcy.

VLSP’s 2011 Empire State Counsel honorees are: Craig Carson, Thomson Reuters; Dwight Collin, Penny Dentinger, Patrice Morrison and David Schraver, Nixon Peabody; Megan Dorritie, F. Paul Greene and Langston McFadden, Harter Secrest & Emery; Mab Fitz-Gerald; Michael Law, Phillips Lytle; Victoria Lagoe;  Lucien Morin II, McConville Considine Cooman & Morin;  Javier Tapia, Woods Oviatt Gilman; Laura Taylor.

The following 10 VLSP volunteer attorneys donated over 50 hours of pro bono service in 2011, but are not eligible for designation as Empire State Counsel because they are not members of the NYSBA: Maroun Ajaka; Judith Cole, McConville Considine Cooman & Morin; Thomas P. Durkin, Allstate Insurance; Carmen Lewis and Frank Novak, Harter Secrest & Emery; Raul Martinez, Faraci Lange; Shaleeya McFadden; Robert Nassau, Boylan Code; Marla Pilaroscia; Derrick Spatarico, Pheterson Stern Calabrese & Neilans.

The NYSBA and the American Bar Association also consider volunteer attorneys’ hours when selecting recipients of pro bono awards. VLSP takes volunteers’ hours into account in awarding our annual William E. McKnight Volunteer Service Award.

In addition to providing recognition for our volunteers, training volunteers is extremely important to VLSP. Many thanks to the attorneys who presented last month’s Non-parent Family Law CLE (Margaret Burt, Gregory Franklin and Thomas Martin) and Child Support CLE (Suzanne Brunsting, Charles Inclima and Thomas Martin). Thanks, too, to Avalon Document Services for providing lunch for CLE attendees.

DVDs of these CLEs and others are available to our volunteers. They can be viewed for CLE credit by attorneys admitted more than two years. 

Be the first to find out about upcoming CLEs and other news. Visit VLSP’s Facebook page for a behind the scenes peek at your favorite pro bono agency.  While you’re there, remember to “like” us.

VLSP also has a Twitter account. Please follow us at @VLSP_Rochester.

By scanning the QR code appearing on this page, you’ll be directed to VLSP’s YouTube channel.

VLSP thanks the members of the legal community who stepped up last month to help low-income clients struggling with a wide range of issues including bankruptcies, wills, tax, name changes, unemployment insurance benefits denials, grandparent/non-parent child custody disputes, and divorces.

January 2012 Honor Roll

Retired Judge: The Hon. Gerard Alonzo.

Solo Practitioners: Stefanie Barnes; Anne Blaise; Suzanne Brunsting; Margaret Burt; Charles Genese; Charles Inclima; Victor Mui; Victoria Lagoe; Francis Mahan; Thomas Martin; John McQueen; Marla Pilaroscia; Lucrecia Ponce; Robert Stiles; Brett Tokarczyk; Gary Van Graafeiland; Ryan Woodworth; John Wieser.

Attorneys at firms: Gregory Franklin (Ashcraft Franklin Young & Peters); C. Bruce Lawrence (Boylan Code); paralegal Elsa Trotto (Faraci Lange); Herbert LePage (Forsyth Howe); Kenneth Gordon, Deborah Schaal (Gordon & Schaal); Ali Benchakroun, Julie Bielecki, Mary Connors (Harris Beach); Diana Clarkson Holl, Kristen Lowe (Harter Secrest); David MacKnight (Lacy Katzen); Ashley Champion, Dwight Collin, Thomas Farace, Gregory Nearpass (Nixon Peabody); Hope Olsson (Olsson & Feder); Fauna Pappalardo (Pappalardo & Pappalardo); Jodie Ryan (Phillips Lytle); Elizabeth Randisi (Weinstein & Murphy); Harry Messina (Woods Oviatt).

Government attorneys: Sanjeev Devabhakthuni, Timothy Fox, Colleen Loughran, Maureen Polen (Appellate Division, Fourth Department); William Taylor (Monroe County).

Corporate attorney and paralegal: Brian O’Connor (Eastman Kodak), paralegal Pat Carey (Thomson Reuters).

Mediators: Robert Hauser, Cheryl Vanderwall (Center for Dispute Settlement).

J.D.s awaiting bar admission: Christopher Kvam, Cory Steckler.

College graduates: Michelle Metallo (Loyola University); Kaitlyn Pettit (SUNY Geneseo); Marla Woodarek (University of Delaware).

Paralegal students: Paula Dwyer (Monroe Community College).

Linda Kostin is the Pro Bono coordinator at Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County Inc. Contact her at lkostin@wnylc.com or (585) 295-5703.