Volunteering Procedures

The Clinic provides pro se litigants with the opportunity to schedule a appointment an attorney for a free half-hour consultation. Volunteer attorneys set the date, times, + length of availability when they Register as a Volunteer. No one travels to the courthouse because all appointments are virtual or by telephone.

At the appointment, volunteer attorneys should be available to answer questions, review filings, and address other matters that pro se debtors and creditors may encounter. To ensure volunteers are capable of answering questions at the clinic, the Clinic requires volunteers have at least three years of bankruptcy experience and be admitted to practice in the Middle District of Florida. If a volunteer has less than three years of experience but feels competent to staff the Clinic, a waiver of this policy may be granted. For more information about the experience policy, please review the Pro Se Clinic Experience Policy. Attorneys are not expected to answer all the client’s questions. The Clinic hopes to answer questions that can reasonably be answered within a half-hour consultation and to provide direction and guidance to the individuals on how to proceed after the consultation (i.e. what to expect in their case if they continue without an attorney).

Malpractice coverage is not provided to Clinic volunteers. However, all pro se parties are required to sign a form acknowledging that no attorney-client relationship is formed during their Clinic appointment. To maintain a clear understanding that no attorney-client relationship is being formed and to protect the integrity of the program, attorney volunteers are not permitted to solicit clients nor are they permitted to discuss representation during a consultation at the Clinic. During consultations, Clinic volunteers are permitted to give referral suggestions that are available in the Clinic. However, this does not prevent an attorney who is individually contacted by a client, after a Clinic appointment, from taking on representation of that individual. Additionally, the Clinic volunteer may give their contact information to a client if the client specifically asks for it.

Volunteer training will be made available periodically through live presentations, video presentations and other materials on our website. The content of the training will be directed at updating non-consumer attorneys on law relevant to assisting consumer debtors and creditors.

Pro Se Tutorial for Attorneys Not Regularly Representing Consumer Attorneys