In response to the devastating wildfires in Gatlinburg and Sevier County, the Tennessee Bar Association is partnering with the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS), Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) and the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission to help those affected with their legal needs.
For Wildfire Victims
Anyone in need of legal assistance can call the TALS legal helpline at 844-HELP4TN, or can go online to www.help4tn.org for resources and access to TN Free Legal Answers. Victims facing losses after the fire can have experienced attorneys answer their questions for free.
Legal clinics are being planned for those impacted by the fires and updated information will be available on www.help4tn.org as it becomes available.
For Attorneys
Attorneys are needed across the state who can help these efforts. Lawyers in East Tennessee who can volunteer in-person at a legal clinic should contact Kathryn Ellis with LAET at kellis@laet.org or 865-637-0484.
For those who want to help all across the state, there are additional options. Attorneys are needed to volunteer to answer emailed questions on the TN Free Legal Answers website or respond to calls and messages received on the HELP4TN legal helpline. Lawyers interested in volunteering with TN Free Legal Answers can sign up directly on the website at https://tn.freelegalanswers.org/. Others willing to respond to calls from the HELP4TN legal
helpline can sign up via the Disaster Legal Assistance Volunteer Form online at http://www.tba.org/volunteer-for-disaster-legal-assistance.
Training resources and other materials for attorney volunteers are available on the TBA’s Disaster Legal Assistance web page at http://www.tba.org/info/disaster-relief-assistance. The TBA’s Young Lawyers Division Disaster Relief Committee has also been activated, and will be
assisting with volunteer recruitment and coordination efforts. To volunteer, complete the Disaster Legal Assistance Volunteer Form online at http://www.tba.org/volunteer-for-disasterlegal-assistance.