Responding to the changing needs of the Evansville area, the Talk to a Lawyer program, a telephone legal clinic put on by the Volunteer Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana and the Evansville Bar Association, has begun offering its services in Spanish.
The program has ensured a Spanish-speaking attorney volunteers at its Tuesday clinic since May, when it added a second monthly session.
Previously, the attorneys would rely on a caller’s English-speaking relative to translate.
Volunteer Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana Staff Director Scott Wylie said recent national discussion surrounding immigration makes providing legal help to some in the Latino community difficult.
“Folks are so scared to go to a courthouse or go to a place where they can get that information because they're afraid they'll be deported or that someone in their family might be deported,” he said.
The program has answered more than 11,000 calls over the past 18 years, and Wylie said assisting monolingual Spanish speakers is part of the program’s efforts to continue serving the region.
“I hope that as our community diversifies and new communities join us in the Evansville area, that we'll make sure that we're trying to remain relevant," he said.
The next clinic with a Spanish-speaking attorney will be Tuesday, Sept. 19 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.