Legal clinic held at Butler Neighborhood Legal Services building to help provide services for those in need
BUTLER, Pa. (KDKA) -- Neighborhood Legal Services hosted a legal clinic at its Butler office Thursday.
It's to help people overcome legal barriers they may have to getting a job or a house. The Pitt students there today weren't there for a class.
"We don't get credit for this, but it's an opportunity to touch in with some of the rural communities," Tillman Cooper, a Pitt Law Student, said.
Cooper is part of this group providing free legal services at this clinic today -- services pertaining to expungements, record sealing, and pardons.
"With this kind of work, a lot of people have records that they've had with them for a very long time," Cooper said. "And that makes things pretty difficult for employment [and] housing."
For Megan Lovett, Director of Public Interest and Pro Bono Initiatives at the Pitt School of Law, giving these students experiences out of the city is her goal. She wants them to realize that there's a need out in places like Butler County.
"Older attorneys are retiring, and there's no one to take over their practices," she said. "That means that there's a huge justice gap."
It's work that the people hosting today's clinic at Neighborhood Legal Services understand.
"This helps people who have stable, productive lives in our communities – have a better chance to do good work and be a good member of our community…"
NLS has been preparing these students for this day, but it's work that these people do every day.
"We actually partner with the Allegheny County Bar Foundation's Pro Bono center to provide pardons, and Neighborhood Legal Services provides services for free for expungement and record sealing," said Judy Hale, Pro Bono Manager for Neighborhood Legal Services.
The students see a mutual benefit.
"Any opportunity for relief – the first step in what's ultimately a long journey for them," Cooper said. "To give back in that way would be pretty rewarding.
You can apply to volunteer on the Neighborhood Legal Services website at nlsa.us.
