Free legal aid available as tribute to Martin Luther King

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Tribune staff reports

Legal Aid District 11 and the Indiana State Bar Association will sponsor the 2016 Talk to a Lawyer Today consultations on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The annual program of free legal sessions will be Jan. 18 for Hoosiers who might not be able to afford an attorney.

That day, sessions will be available in Indiana’s Pro Bono District I, including Seymour, Greensburg, Nashville, North Vernon and Columbus.

This program provides legal assistance to the under-served as an annual tribute to King, who was born Jan. 15, 1929. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, first celebrated in 1986, is on the third Monday in January.

During Talk to a Lawyer Today, attorneys provide 10- to 15-minute consultations to answer general questions and offer legal information.

In Jackson County, the program will be available from 10 a.m. to noon at the Jackson County Public Library, 303 W. Second St., Seymour. The program also will be available from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Jennings County Public Library, 2375 N. State Road 3, North Vernon.

Kathryn L. Miller, a staff attorney and pro bono referral director with the Legal Aid District 11 office in Columbus, will be available at the Seymour session along with attorney Peter King from Cline, King and King in Columbus and attorney James Funke from North Vernon.

“Participants will sit down with one of us and can ask basic legal questions,” Miller said. “We schedule about 10 to 15 minutes per person, depending on how many people are waiting.”

Common topics include divorce, child custody and support, traffic infractions, minor criminal violations and landlord tenant issues, Miller said.

“We try to provide a basic overview of a participant’s next steps, if the issue they have is legal and where to go for more assistance, be it legal or otherwise,” she said.

Two sessions also will be conducted in Columbus, and sessions are planned for Greensburg and Nashville.

Legal Aid is a nonprofit agency providing free legal services and lawyer referrals to low-income individuals in Pro Bono District I covering eight counties in south-central Indiana.

Legal Aid District 11 serves residents of Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson, Shelby and Rush counties.

An English and Spanish hotline is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The number is 800-266-2581.

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What: Free legal consultations

When: 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 18

Where: Jackson County Public Library, 303 W. Second St., Seymour

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