by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
A local attorney plans to debut a new program next month that will team law students with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. to provide legal assistant to those in need.
Donnie MacKenzie, an attorney with Holland & Knight, has been working to start the program — the Poverty Law Clinic — for about four years.
“What we are going to do is use the Jacksonville Bar to garner attorneys to help the folks in our city that need representation,” said MacKenzie. “We have created a clinic and the Florida Coastal School of Law has graciously agreed to provide us its resources; mainly its students who are interested. We are going to pair students and lawyers in town with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, who will then introduce us to folks who need representation.”
The purpose of the clinic is to provide students with hands-on experience, provide pro bono services and help Legal Aid, which is overworked and understaffed.
“I think it is a win-win situation,” said MacKenzie, who also chairs the Jacksonville Bar Association’s Pro Bono Subcommittee. “The students get to meet and help lawyers, and they get to meet clients and see how the system works. Instead of concepts and theories, they are actually going to meet people with problems who need resolutions and they will help the lawyer find them. The lawyer is helped tremendously by the student, who then provides the lawyer some extra time that they may not otherwise have by doing some research and other things. The client is obviously the most important person in the equation and they are getting the help they need. We have put all three of the elements together.”
Legal Aid will screen the clients and determine what specific needs they have. The clinic will then recruit lawyers with specific expertise who can help. The lawyer, student and prospective client will meet at the law school one day each month for the clinic.
MacKenzie plans to start the clinic next month.