By Mike McCombs
The Island News
Lowcountry Legal Volunteers is opening its second satellite office on Lady’s Island with an open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 7.
The group will be one of one of five local nonprofits to share the donated space within the new Lowcountry Outreach business plaza at 80 Lady’s Island Drive, which is operated by St. Peter’s Catholic Church.
Lowcountry Legal Volunteers Executive Director and attorney Anne Caywood said the group was lucky to be the first nonprofit to partner with St. Peter’s.
“I had been in contact with Director Elizabeth Palmer,” Caywood said. “We were wanting to do some clinics, and I had emailed her a few months back. She said, ‘Well, how about some office space?’ I said, ‘We’ll come check it out. We’re very interested.’
“We were lucky enough to be the first organization in this nonprofit. We can be part of a one-stop shop for those in need.”
Lowcountry Legal Volunteers serves those living and working in Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties and assists with adoptions, child custody, visitation, guardianships, divorce, name changes, simple consumer matters, eviction actions, lease termination, non-refund of security deposits, simple wills and probate. All services are provided at no cost to clients who live at or below the 200 percent federal poverty level.
According to Caywood, Lowcountry Legal Volunteers features about 20 volunteers, in and out of the office. They include retired attorneys, paralegals, and clerks that handle everything from client intake to filing. The staff features everyone from attorneys to a bilingual paralegal to a full-time legal assistant to a retired magistrate judge.
Caywood says an open house addresses several needs.
“The first is awareness among potential clients,” Caywood said. “We want folks that need free legal services … we want those folks to know we are there for them. There is access for them in northern Beaufort County.”
The second is public awareness that these services exist at all. And third and fourth, Caywood said, is funding and staffing.
“Obviously,” she said, “we need all the monetary support we can get. And we always need volunteers.”
Lowcountry Legal Volunteers also has office space in Hardeeville at 36 Main Street. Its main office is located within the 14th Circuit Family Justice Center at 108 Traders Cross in Okatie.
In 2022, Lowcountry Legal Volunteers held 24 free legal clinics, assisted more than 500 clients and their families and provided more than $2.5 million in free legal services.
For more information, visit www.LowcountryLegalVolunteers.org.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
