Have a legal question about COVID-19? These attorneys want to answer it, free of charge
If her friends had this many questions about the legal ramifications of COVID-19, Meaghan Driscoll knew other people would, too.
Driscoll — no relation — is an attorney at Connelly Law Offices in Tacoma. That means she knows a lot of lawyers, and as the directives and mandates in response to the coronavirus outbreak have cascaded down, she saw her friends and colleagues trying to quickly make sense of what it all means.
What Driscoll heard were questions she was certain others would also be asking — about employment rights, or parenting plans, or the temporary moratorium on evictions.
In a time of crisis and increasing isolation, Driscoll identified a connection that needed to be made. There are plenty of lawyers in Tacoma and Pierce County, she figured, and plenty of people who suddenly find themselves in need of legal advice.
“Let’s try to connect these people,” Driscoll remembers thinking.
With the help of the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association’s TacomaProBono program, that’s what she’s trying to do.
Last week, TacomaProBono — which is accustomed to providing assistance, in person, from a physical office on Tacoma Avenue — started fielding coronavirus-related legal questions online. A volunteer team of attorneys stands ready to respond, for free, Driscoll says.
So far, the attorneys have taken turns working 2-hour shifts throughout the day, according to TacomaProBono volunteer coordinator Ashley Duckworth, and they’ve been able to respond to questions the same day.
Typically, Duckworth says the volunteer lawyers schedule a time for a follow-up phone call to discuss the matter, but sometimes an email reply suffices..
“As a community, I think it is important to come together and share resources and knowledge. There are an amazing amount of attorneys who want to be involved with this, and who want to help,” Driscoll says. “We all know that there’s a lot of uncertainty, and with uncertainty comes fear. Our hope is that with the virtual clinic we can take out some of the guesswork and some of the fears that people are experiencing.”
For the most part, Driscoll says, the questions have “matched up with the reality” of what she and other attorneys thought they might receive.
“What we expected and what we’ve seen is there are a lot of people who have questions about whether they’re allowed to go to work, or required to go to work. Questions about essential employees, and what it means,” Driscoll says. “We’ve also heard a lot from small business owners wondering what they can do to comply with the governor’s order but also make sure their business isn’t going under in this difficult time.”
Driscoll says volunteer attorneys also have fielded a number of questions related to family law, in particular how “visitation is affected by the orders.”
While some questions are simple to answer, others are not, Driscoll says.
She points out we’re in uncharted territory, and the legal terrain changes daily.
Meanwhile, with some courts closed, applicable case law to draw on isn’t always available.
“We’re doing our best to kind of advise people and let them know where the guard rails are,” Driscoll says. “We help advise them and give them some sense of how to move forward.”.
According to Laurie Davenport, director of development and outreach at TacomaProBono, there also has been a number of questions related to housing.
Given the sudden jump in unemployment, Davenport says, the increased hardship is already evident and people are worried. As the crisis unfolds, she expects volunteer lawyers will spend much of their time discussing the implications of the state’s temporary ban on residential evictions, including the unknowns that remain.
During more normal times, TacomaProBono handles a heavy caseload of evictions through its Tacoma-Pierce County Housing Justice Project, so it’s guidance Davenport is prepared to give.
That experience also is part of what scares Davenport, and another reason she thinks the effort is important.
“When things get sort of back to normal, there’s going to be an overwhelming explosion of evictions,” Davenport predicts.
“We need to get people’s questions and get a sense of what’s happening.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 5:05 AM.
