Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 6, 1993 TAG: 9305060291
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For each of the nine lines, there was a Roanoke lawyer waiting to give 10 minutes of counseling - on any topic imaginable - as part of No Bills Night, a public service offered Wednesday by the Virginia State Bar's Young Lawyers Conference.
Divorce law, line three.
"That was a husband who wanted to tape his ex-wife's calls to him," John Lichtenstein said. The man was convinced he had her lying on tape. But was it legal?
It is as long as the recorded call was between two parties, and you were one of them, Lichtenstein said. Intercepting a third party's conversation is the problem; kind of what got U.S. Sen. Charles Robb in trouble.
Malicious prosecution, line one.
A man charged with trespassing wanted to sue the person who had him arrested. He was innocent, of course.
Turns out that a judge convicted him after he didn't bother to show up for court, he told Chuck Wall.
Wall admits he didn't have much to work with on that one.
DUI, line six.
A two-time convicted drunken driver was in trouble again, this time on charges of refusing to take a blood-alcohol test.
"You may run the risk of being branded a habitual offender," John Johnson warned.
But the caller was determined to represent himself, at least at his first hearing. "This man had obviously read the statute," Johnson said when he got off the phone. "He knew he had an automatic right of appeal."
Wills and immigration, line one.
An alien was applying for naturalization. While that process was pending, did he need a visa to travel overseas?
"I've never been asked that question before," Melissa Amos Young admitted.
She suggested that he call the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "Then he came back with a another question" about setting up a trust fund for his son, Young said.
Property damage, line nine.
This caller was steamed because blasting by a highway construction crew had knocked her fence down. Should she sue?
She might have her lawyer fire off an ominous letter first, Scott Fell suggested. Sometimes that will do the trick.
With only a few minutes to talk, and with other callers often waiting on hold, Fell and his fellow lawyers could only give general advice.
"We may not be able to give them a specific answer, but we can steer them in the right direction," said Johnson, who organized the event along with Chip Casola.
No Bills Night is a twice-a-year affair, and it averages about 150 calls a night. Wednesday's event was a part of Community Law Week.
"Lawyers have kind of gotten a bad rap in the past, and we're trying to show that we're not out there trying to make a buck," Johnson said. "We're trying to offer a service to the public."
But there were still a few crank calls, a few inmates calling collect from jail, and some calls that defied an easy description.
"I've got a lady here who wants to talk about somebody's trees hanging over on her property," a secretary announced.
Half an hour later, the opposing party in that particular dispute was on the line.
"It was the same story," the secretary said, "only in reverse."
by CNB