This from Buck Lewis, Chair of the Tennessee Access to Justice Commission:

After three years of planning and over a year of operation, I am pleased to tell you that Tennessee is operating a successful online pro bono web site at http://www.onlinetnjustice.org. Clients are screened online and post questions online that are answered by approximately 300 volunteer attorneys. We have helped about 1500 clients so far, between 100 and 150 a month.Lawyers who are home bound or taking a hiatus from the regular practice love the site because they can help people and stay involved. LSC entities are delighted to have a place to which they can direct clients who must be turned away due to funding cuts or statutory restrictions. Clients in areas where very few lawyers are located can connect with lawyers anywhere in the state.The site is now being translated into Spanish.

. . . The program code was written by our law firm’s IT programmers. We are happy to license it free of charge to any ATJ organization which will use it to provide pro bono services.

Our colleagues in [two states] have indicated that they want to use our program to launch sites in their states. We would be very glad to offer it to your states as well. We can give you a temporary lawyer’s password and walk you through it if you want to check it out. We think we have dealt with most of the technical and ethical issues that might arise with an online pro bono web site, and we are eager to share what we have done and learned with other states. Please let me know if you are interested.

Warmest regards.

Buck Lewis
Chair,Tennessee Supreme Court Access To Justice Commission
Baker,Donelson,et. al.
2000 First Tennessee Bldg.
165 Madison Ave.
Memphis,TN 38103
Blewis(at)bakerdonelson.com

Great idea and great spirit.