ABA Journal - July 2009

Long, a partner at Davis & Kuelthau in Milwaukee. “I’m guessing this is something the bank sent out hoping some people would send money back. It’s an aggressive move on behalf of the bank and very unusual.”

Thacher Proffitt & Wood is the only failed firm known to be pursuing incoming first-years for funds advanced before they reported for work. Representatives of three other defunct firms—Dreier, WolfBlock and Heller Ehrman—didn’t respond to a request for comment or declined comment. However, Thelen, whose partners voted to dissolve at the end of 2008, isn’t seeking the return of any fees paid to incoming associates.

“It just wasn’t anything we considered in connection with administering the windup of the firm,” says Doug Davidson from the firm’s dissolution committee. “I don’t believe the amounts were material relative to other items,” he says, “and had we discussed the matter, my belief is that we would have concluded that those students were incurring enough difficulty as a result of not having a job with Thelen and having to find another job elsewhere.” ■

ONLINE PRACTICE

SERVING GAYS ON THE NET
New website helps prepare documents,
find representation

By Julie Kay

IT WAS THE 2004 ELECTION, AND LINDALISA SEVERO was distressed. The Atlanta lawyer and gay rights activist was disturbed by the number of anti-gay-marriage amendments on state ballots (including in her own state of Georgia) and thought other gays and lesbians were being systematically denied legal rights available to the general population.

So she got the idea to start an online service where the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community could turn to have legal documents prepared—everything from living wills to parenting agreements to powers of attorney.

Her idea was to have an easy and affordable way for gays and lesbians to fill out forms online without having to visit a lawyer. She realized that while same-sex couples in big cities may feel comfortable visiting lawyers, those in smaller, rural or conservative towns might not. She also wanted the service to be affordable.

After Severo teamed up with her brother, Internet guru Tony Severo, as well as online legal services provider RocketLawyer.com and other partners, she launched LegalOut this spring.

In addition to document preparation, LegalOut offers document storage and sharing, news blogs, links to petitions and other activist sites, and a referral network of lawyers sympathetic to LGBT causes.

The service costs $20 a month or $120 annually for unlimited document preparation, with the first document free.

“I felt like if they weren’t recognized by the law, at least legally same-sex couples could be tied together,”

says Severo. “I’ve heard horror stories of one of the partners passing away and the family taking the house and leaving the other partner with nothing.

“If you’re not protected as an LGBT couple, you could really lose a lot.”

Even in states that don’t ban same-sex marriage, same-sex couples often lack the right to visit hospitalized partners, to make health care decisions for ill partners or to assume community property when partners die. They also may have no clear-cut separation or parenting-rights agreements.

LegalOut is one of several online legal documentation services that have sprung up in the last few years. Pink Legal offers similar services in the United Kingdom. RocketLawyer.com and Rainbow Law Center do so in the United States.