Telephone Legal Advice Hotline

In 1998, LSNF began formulating the Telephone Legal Advice Hotline. Within one year, LSNF began to serve the Tallahassee and Quincy office service areas (Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Jackson, Jefferson, Liberty, Leon, Monticello, and Wakulla counties).  More recently, LSNF expanded the hotline to include assistance to clients in our Panama City office (for residents of Bay, Gulf, Holmes, Washington). This program offers immediate advice and counsel to LSNF in a variety of areas of the law which include primarily landlord/tenant, consumer, and family law matters. Following the telephone conference, clients may be sent letters confirming the advice given, along with written materials pertaining to their particular legal problem.

Through the Telephone Legal Advice Hotline, all clients throughout the designated service areas are screened for eligibility, a conflict check is conducted, and the intake is completed over the telephone. If found eligible and depending on the type of problem, the client is told to be at a phone where a volunteer attorney can provide legal advice to them between 2 and 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday (excluding holidays).

The telephone hotline has become popular for both clients and volunteer lawyers. In fact, five local legal entities recruit volunteers from within their organization to handle the advice calls four weeks out of each month. First on board the hotline bandwagon was the Florida Attorney General's Office, through M. Catherine Lannon. Then, the team of Patrick Hurley and Lewis Shelley from Tallahassee city attorney's office made arrangements for its legal staff to participate. Also, the Tallahassee Women Lawyers adopted the project as part of its pro bono activities.  The fourth week was adopted in June, 2000 by a lawyer's section from the Department of Transportation, lead by Bruce Conroy.  Then a group of attorneys from The Department of Community Affair's Office of the General Counsel signed on to help.  Most recently, attorneys from The Department of Environment Protection agreed to replace the vacancy left by the Tallahassee Women Lawyers. 

LSNF appreciates the following volunteer lawyers for working to make the Telephone Legal Advice Hotline a success:

Harvey Abrams, Leslie Anderson Adams, Celeste Adorno, Mitchell Albaugh, Bernie Appleman, Ken Ayers, Gypsy Bailey, Lee Baldwin, Tom Barnhart, Martha Barrera, June McKinney Bartelle, Andrea Bateman, Catherine Bedell, Jann Hart Bellamy, Calvin Bender, Wings Benton, Daniel Biggins, Karen Bishop, Susan Bodell, John Bottcher, Al Bragg, Karen Brodeen, Michelle Buckalew, Katie Buchanan, Dean Bunton, Bob Burdick, Amanda Bush, Barbara Busharis, Christopher Byrd, Rosanna Catalano, Neil Chamelin, Judson Chapman, Carol Cherry, Robert Churchill, Mary Ellen Clark, Susan Clark, Lisa Comingore, Bruce Conroy, Kristen Coons, Rick Courtemanche, Christine Cosby, Ann Cowles, Sonia Crockett, Brian Crumbaker, Meghan Daigle, Gabrielle D'Alemberte, Stephanie Daniel, Janeia Daniels, Joseph D'Annunzio, Kendra Davis, Matthew Davis, William Davis, Alexis Decaprio, Tim Dennis, Hetal Desai, Josephine Deyo, Reggie Dixon, Joseph Donnelly, Mike Donovan, Richard Doran, Bobby Downie, Patty Draper, Allison Dudley, Barbara Edwards, Freda Ellis, Jim English, Donna Erlich, Deirdra Farrington, Erik Fenniman, Meredith Fields, Janet Findling, Barbara Jo Finer, Francine Ffolkes, James Floyd, Michele Forte, Ashley Foster, Howard Fox, Christine Francescani, Debora E. Fridie, Sally Gertz, Kathi Giddings, Erica Glover, Carol Gregg, Carol Grondzik, Allen Grossman, Kathy Grunewald, Sam Harden, Brian Hayden, Maja Holman, Diane Guillemette, Ed Guiterrez, Lee Ann Gustafson, Mike Haire, Wil Haselden, Billy Hendrix, Danny Hernandez, Barbara Hines, Melissa Hornsby, Louis Hubener, Patrick Hurley, Linda (Hudson) Hurst, Cassandra Jackson, Ladasiah Jackson, Janice Jennings, Jodi Jennings, Wendy Jensen, Calvin Johnson, Denise Johnson, Kristy Johnson, Amy Jones, Greg Jones, Jeffrey Jones, David Jordan, Peter Kelegian, John Kenny, Zac Lawton, Pam Leslie, Caryl Kilinski, Olivia Klein, M. Catherine Lannon, Jaime Liang, David Littlejohn, Debora Loucks, Richard Lotspeich, Pam Lutton, Ted Mack, Anneli Magee, Kelly Martinson, Scott Matthews, Kathy Maus, Robert Martin, Kelly Martinson, Jackson Maynard, Marilyn McFadden, Clay McGonagill, Brian McGrail, Kelly McGrath, Michael McKinley, Richard McNelis, Donna McNulty, Joseph Mellichamp, Willis Melvin, Olen Meredith, Mary Miller, Matt Minno, Aliki Moncrief, Murray Moore, Larry Morgan, T. J. Morton, Jarrell Murchison, Randy Murrell, David Nam, Li Nelson, Lynette Norr, Emily Norton, Jessica Olmedillo, Chastity O'Steen, Warren Pearson, Dorys Penton, Tamela Ivey Perdue, Jeff Peters, "Pete" Peterson, Miki Presley, Theresa Prichard, Maureen Proctor, Kisha Pruitt, Phillip Quaschnick, Priscilla Quinones, Wilhelmina Randtke,  George Reynolds IV, James Richmond, Brynna Ross, Laura Rush, Jon Sanford, Theresa Sawyer, Nona Schaffner, Deborah Schiro, Susan Schwartz, Lisa Scoles, Steve Sellers, Cherry Shaw, Lewis Shelley, Richard Shine, Richard Shoop, Holly Simcox, Carol Simpson, Twyla Sketchley, Chesterfield Smith, Jan Smith, Donald Spangler, Mike Spellman, Gwen Spencer, Sherry Spiers, Brian Stabley, Charles Stampelos, Alysson Stevens, Chad Stevens, Joan Stewart, Sarah Stewart, Ruth Stone, Ed Tellechea, Lois Tepper, Mike Thomas, Stephen Thomas, Christine Thorson, Christine Thurman, Joy Tootle, Marianne Trussell, Rebecca Tulipan, Sandra UpChurch, Robert Van Horne, Alexandria Walters, Ian White, Jason White, Emory Williams, Keshya Williams, Mary Kay Wimsett, Ian White, Dawn Whitehurst, Ann Wild, Cathi Wilkinson, Bib Willis, Ellen Winslow, and Jennifer Wolfe, Albert Wollermann, Roger Wood, Patricia Worrell, Laura Youmans and Sheauching Yu.