(NAPLES, Fla.) – Years after Hurricane Ian ravaged parts of Florida in 2022, a disabled veteran and his wife continue to face unexpected fallout from the storm. The company they had hired
to fix their damaged roof installed a defective replacement, violating several construction codes and further jeopardizing the safety of the homeowners. Then, the roofing company stopped replying.
Enter Tony Kolenc, Director of the Veterans and Service members Law (VSCL) Clinic at Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, and his students.
Tony’s clinic provides students with a hands-on opportunity to help military service members and low-income veterans on matters covering a range of legal areas, such as consumer law, disability benefits, and housing disputes. The VSCL Clinic is currently representing the family impacted by the defective roof.
“The clients have just been so appreciative. They’re so relieved to know that somebody’s fighting for them,” Kolenc reflects.
Many of Kolenc’s Pro Bono cases are handled in collaboration with the Private Attorney Involvement (PAI) Program at Florida Rural Legal Services (FRLS), a non-profit law firm that provides free legal aid to low-income residents in 13 counties and to farmworkers statewide. Helmed by Britt Berg, FRLS’s PAI Program operates as a crucial point of connection between veteran clients and Kolenc’s clinic.
“I’m really thankful for FRLS, because [low-income veterans’ services] is really one of the areas we wanted to work in. It’s an area where we help local people,” Kolenc remarks. While the VSCL Clinic has enjoyed several legal aid partnerships, FRLS is “the main organization that’s
really stepped up to partner with us.”
Kolenc recognizes the pivotal role of Berg, FRLS’ Pro Bono Manager, alongside Amanda Levy-Reis, Staff Attorney & Pro Bono Coordinator at FRLS’ Fort Myers location, in consistently providing the clinic’s students with clients to represent.
The partnership between FRLS and the VSCL Clinic has yielded formative experiential learning opportunities for Kolenc’s students, from guiding a retired veteran through an unlawful
interaction case, to assisting an Air Force veteran with obtaining an official declaration of paternity. Working in tandem with FRLS’s PAI Program, Kolenc’s students have remarked that Pro Bono work has been “a life changing experience in terms of how they view themselves as future lawyers and why they’re going to law school.”
Ultimately, the partnership between FRLS and the VSCL Clinic impacts the lives of clients across the state. Kolenc underscores how, through clinical learning experiences, students come to appreciate “how the law can help people who don’t have somebody in their corner. Suddenly they’ve got these students who really care, and it makes a big impact.”
Inspired? Learn More About FRLS’s PAI Program
The PAI Program at FRLS is designed to provide free legal assistance to indigent, elderly, and disabled people in 13 counties in South and Central Florida, as well as farmworkers statewide. The Pro Bono Program offers opportunities for legal professionals to conduct hands-on, meaningful legal aid work in a host of core service areas, from family law to disaster recovery.
Additionally, the PAI Program keeps our Pro Bono attorneys updated on applicable CLE offerings, allowing legal professionals to obtain practical experience in new areas of law.
Are you a private attorney, current law student, or retired lawyer, eager to make an impact in Florida through Pro Bono legal aid? There are many routes to getting involved with FRLS’s PAI Program!
About Florida Rural Legal Services, Inc.