MACHIAS, Maine — Lawyer Jim Mitchell doesn’t think it’s fair that only people with money can get civil justice.
That’s one of the reasons he is involved with the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project, which launched the Washington County Courthouse Assistance Program in September 2014.
“If you’re low income and you’re charged with a crime, you get a free lawyer,” said Mitchell. “But if you risk losing custody of children, no attorney for you … It’s one of the huge travesties of justice.”
The Courthouse Assistance Program invites low-income people who need assistance with family law issues to walk into the courthouse starting at 1 p.m. the first Thursday of the month. Potential clients should go to the courthouse in Machias on odd-numbered months and to Calais on even-numbered months.
Mitchell screens potential clients for income eligibility before they see a volunteer lawyer for a half-hour consultation. Income from all sources is added up and then Mitchell subtracts certain expenses such as unreimbursed medical expenses, rent or mortgage payments and child care costs. That net income must be below $14,588 for a single person and below $29,813 for a family of four, for example.
“Even people who don’t meet these guidelines still can’t afford an attorney,” Mitchell said. “People come into court and are forced to represent themselves.”
Mitchell recalled one case in which a father was living in Oklahoma and his three children lived with their low-income mother in Maine. The father was allowed visitation, but only in Maine.
“Next thing you know, he calls from Oklahoma and says, ‘The kids are here. They’re not coming back,’” Mitchell said.
With the aid of three different volunteer attorneys in Maine, the mother was able to get her children back, he said.
“This person [was] completely out of luck without us,” he said.
Mitchell said four or five people have been showing up every month for assistance.
“We’d like to see more,” he said.
One of those to show up for assistance Nov. 5 was Adam Belyea of Greenbush, who needed help with a child custody case. The opposing party is from Washington County, which is why he was able to get assistance in Machias.
“He’s going to walk out of here a lot more knowledgeable about his case,” said Mitchell.
“It’s just wonderful,” Belyea said of the service. “I absolutely was excited when I found out I’d be able to at least run some of these things by an attorney.”
Belyea said without the assistance program, he would be forced to represent himself.
“I just had a hearing [earlier] and it didn’t go my way, I think, because I didn’t have a lawyer,” he said. “All I’m doing is getting frustrated [in court].”
Mitchell said about 10 or 12 Washington County lawyers currently volunteer their time.
The Washington County Bar Association won the Lew Vafiades Pro Bono Award in 2015 for stepping up to meet the need, Mitchell said.
“The attorneys in Washington County, they’re very generous,” he said.
Mitchell called the Washington County program the “grand experiment” as “the first such program in a rural county in the state.”
“Reaching out and getting service to the rural areas is more of a job than in urban areas,” he said.
Recently, the Volunteer Lawyer Project started a similar program in Hancock County and, in the next several months, hopes to have something up and running in Waldo County, he said.
“There’s a huge need,” Mitchell said.
Low-income people with issues besides family law can also get assistance from the Volunteer Lawyer Project, but not as walk-ins. They should call Mitchell at 942-9348 or email jmitchell@vlp.org.