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March 5, 2019
Chief Justice Michael K. Randolph visited a guardianship clinic in Mendenhall on Friday, March 1, to thank seven attorneys who gave their time to help grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives gain legal standing to enroll children in school and make medical and other decisions affecting their welfare.
Chief Justice Michael Randolph, at left, talks to attorney Benton Evans of Monticello during the guardianship clinic in Mendenhall. Staff attorney Deborah Kennedy is in background at center.
Layers from Hattiesburg, Monticello, Magee and Raleigh assisted families who couldn’t afford to hire them. Eighteen people from Simpson, Smith, Covington, Jefferson Davis and Lawrence counties received free legal help.
“There are people struggling out there that need legal help but can’t afford it,” Chief Justice Randolph said as he visited with lawyers at the Simpson County Courthouse. He said that every member of the Court supported what they were doing and encouraged them to continue.
Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project Executive Director Gayla Carpenter-Sanders worked with local chancellors and the chancery clerks of the 13th Chancery District to organize the guardianship clinic. Chief Justice Randolph commended Chancellors David Shoemake and Gerald Martin for co-sponsoring the guardianship clinic and making their entire judicial staffs available to assist. He also commended the chancery clerks for their invaluable assistance in this endeavor.
Earlier on Friday during a speech to the Southern Regional Bar Meeting/CLE on the Road Seminar in Hattiesburg, he encouraged lawyers attending the CLE program to volunteer to serve at one of the many law clinics scheduled across the state to assist the impoverished.
There aren’t enough Legal Services lawyers to handle the estimated 200,000 to 250,000 people who need legal aid each year but can’t afford it, Access to Justice Commission Executive Director Nicole McLaughlin told the Hattiesburg CLE participants. Nearly 99,000 grandparents in Mississippi are raising their grandchildren, and 123,000 Mississippi children live in extreme poverty, McLaughlin said.
The volunteer attorneys prepared documents for the clinic participants seeking guardianships. Chancellor Shoemake and Chancellor Martin were at the clinic to sign orders in any guardianship cases that could be brought to completion.
Attorney Benton Evans of Monticello was among the volunteers. “These are people that need help. It’s satisfying to see them getting the help they deserve,” he said. Without a legal guardianship, grandparents or other relatives taking care of children can’t enroll the children in school or apply for medical assistance or programs such as the WIC nutrition program. “They end up taking on those expenses on their own because they are not able to access those benefits.”
Attorney Zeb Vance Baucum IV of Raleigh and student LaTanya Allen of Madison prepare a document during the March 1 guardianship clinic at the Simpson County Courthouse in Mendenhall.
Main picture:
Chancellor Gerald Martin, at left, talks to MVLP Executive Director Gayla Carpenter-Sanders during the guardianship clinic.
