WILL THIS RETIRED FLORIDA GRANDMA NEED TO RIDE THE ROSA PARKS BUS INTO A FLORIDA PRISON 2 BE LEGAL IN FILLING OUT COURT PAPERS 4 HER FELLOW PARISHONERS PRESIDENT OBAMA ???

FLORIDA NEEDS TO BE SUED BY THE ACLU 4 DENYING GRANDMA KATIE VICKERS EQUAL RIGHTS TO ASSIST OTHER FELLOW CHURCH PARISHONERS WITH THEIR LEGAL PAPER~WORK !!!

**WEALTHY ELITE AMERICAN'S AND THEIR HIGH PAID LOBBYISTS DO NOT CARE IF GRANDMA KATIE VICKERS OF FLORIDA EATS CAT FOOD NEXT MONTH **

WILL GOD'S AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LOBBY HELP OUR LITTLE FLORIDA GRANDMA KATIE VICKERS BEAT OUR U.S. WEALTHY ELITE'S BIG $$ LOBBYISTS ?

MANNY GONZALES THE KID THAT EVERYONE FORGOT IN THE CALIFORNIA PRISON SYSTEM AND ALL OUR OTHER AMERICAN PRISON INMATES NATIONWIDE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ALLOWED AND ENCOURAGED TO RECEIVE OTHER PRISON INMATES LEGAL ASSISTANCE REGARDING THEIR FEDERAL APPEALS ??

FLORIDA NOW DEEMS THAT GRANDMA'S CAN'T ASSIST THEIR FELLOW NEEDY AND POORER SICKLY CHURCH GOERS WITH THEIR PAPERWORK ??

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* THIS U.S. LOBBYI$T HOR$E~TRADING in OUR PEOPLES U.S. CONGRE$$ NOW REQUIRE$ BIG $$$ AND MIDDLE~CLASS AND POORER AMERICANS LIKE KATIE VICKERS OF FLORIDA DO NOT QUALIFY FOR OUR WEALTHY ELITE LOBBYISTS ASSISTANCE or INTEREST *

OK,OK NOW WE GET IT~ THE MIDDLE~CLASS & POORER AMERICANS NEED BIG $$ TO LOBBY THE PEOPLES U.S. CONGRESS 2 ALSO BE FAIRLY REPRESENTED ....... SO PUT UP OR $HUT UP ALL YOU little American people WHO EXPECT HONE$T CONGRE$$IONAL REPRE$ENTATION WITHOUT PAYING THE PIPER....

THEY CONTINUE TAKING BILLIONS U.S.TAX FREE FOUNDATIONS $$ OUT OF AMERICA & AT THE SAME TIME HAVE THEIR HIGH PRICED ELITE LOBBYISTS DEMANDING THEIR CONGRESS TO SEND MANY MORE BILLIONS OF U.S.TAX $$ TO EXIT AMERICA FOR UNKNOWN LOCATIONS WORLD~WIDE DEPRIVING OUR OWN U.S. MIDDLE~CLASS AND POORER AMERICANS OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS, HEALTH~CARE, DENTAL~CARE,PROPER LEGAL PROTECTIONS IN CIVIL,CRIMINAL, FAMILY COURTS ...

WHY WOULD MILLIONS OF OUR NEEDY MIDDLE~CLASS AND POORER AMERICANS WANT TO CONTINUE HEARING ALL ABOUT OUR WEALTHY ELITE BRAGGING TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN THEIR OWN INTERNATIONAL CONQUESTS IN CONTINUING TO ASSIST THE INTERNATIONAL POOR WITH OUR AMERICAN GOVERNMENT'S TAX FREE $$$ ???

~ JUST 1 MORE PERFECT EXAMPLE PRESIDENT OBAMA OF WHY U.S. SLUSH FUND FOUNDATIONS NEED NEW FEDERAL GUIDLINES~

~ MIDDLE~CLASS AMERICANS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS CONTINUE PAYING MORE TAX $$$ THEN OUR U.S. WEALTHY ELITE AND OUR UNEMPLOYED HAVE TO BEG THE PEOPLES U.S. CONGRESS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS ???

WEALTHY ELITE AND THEIR FAMILIES OWN 90% OF OUR AMERICAN WEALTH AND TOTAL ONLY 1% OF U.S. TOTAL POPULATION .

SADLY THIS ELITE CABAL APPEAR TO HAVE COMPLETE FINANCIAL CONTROL OVER THE PEOPLES U.S. CONGRESS SPENDING $$ (PURSE) THROUGH THEIR HIGH PRICED PAID LOBBYISTS.

LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS WILL CONTINUE POINTING OUT VARIOUS MONETARY NEEDS HERE IN AMERICA FOR ALL OUR SINCERE CARING WEALTHY ELITE TO PONDER PRIOR THEIR TAX FREE SLUSH FUND FOUNDATIONS INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WORLDS POOR.

WE BELIEVE THAT ALL THESE BILLION $$$ TAX FREE SLUSH FUND FOUNDATIONS OF OUR SINCERE ELITE AMERICANS SHOULD ONLY BE USED FOR AMERICAN NEEDS AND NOT TAKEN OUT OF AMERICA.

**THEY HAVE BEEN GIVEN THEIR TAX FREE $$ STATUS IN AMERICA & THOSE $$ SHOULD ALSO BE SPENT IN AMERICA **

OUR AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE LEADING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD FOR CONTRIBUTING TAX $$$ TO THE INTERNATIONAL WORLD'S POOR. FOR OUR LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD(CONGRESS) TO CONTINUE TO ALLOW UNTOLD BILLIONS $$ TO ALSO ESCAPE OUR COUNTRY WITH THESE WEALTHY ELITE SLUSH FUND FOUNDATIONS,CAN ONLY MAKE ONE WONDER IF THIS IS WHAT MANY REFER 2 AS "THE NEW WORLD ORDER " ???

*** OUR AMERICAN WEALTHY ELITE LOBBYISTS R NOT PAID $$ 2 HELP little Americans like KATIE VICKERS OF FLORIDA WRITTEN ABOUT IN in the WALL STREET JOURNAL & KATE HOWARD'S ARTICLES FOUND BELOW.

LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS (424-247-2013)
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1)

More Strapped Litigants Skip Lawyers in Court

Article Wall Street Journal Newspaper

By NATHAN KOPPEL
July 22,2010

The economic downturn has left more Americans with the daunting prospect of fighting court battles without a lawyer.

The Florida Times-Union/Bruce Lipsky
Katie Vickers helped a friend in court and now faces legal woes herself.

A growing number of people have found themselves in court facing costly financial proceedings such as declaring bankruptcy, fighting foreclosure and litigating employment fights. Adding to the challenge, for many: The high cost of legal representation often prompts them to go it alone.

Jillian Edgar of Brooklyn, N.Y., is one example. The 32-year-old, who says she has been unsuccessfully looking for work since October, is fighting an eviction notice that claims she owes more than $2,800.

Last week in Kings Country Housing Court, she said she didn't know the steps to take to qualify for free legal aid. Still, she said, "I think I can handle myself." Her plan: to say that she withheld rent because her apartment had fallen into disrepair.

Legal experts say many people are likely losing claims and paying penalties they could have avoided with a lawyer at their side. Litigants often don't understand the sort of evidence they need to present in legal proceedings, said Florida state Judge Claudia Isom.

She said she has seen a jump in people defending against mortgage-foreclosure proceedings without the aid of counsel, for instance, and they are "definitely at a disadvantage."

"People will gather legal information from the Internet, from friends, or leaflets at a courthouse and think, 'I can play checkers, I'm ready,' " said Raymond Brescia, a professor at Albany Law School, who has written about tenants' struggles to afford legal representation. "But when they get to court they realize it's a game of three-level chess, and they don't have the first idea of what's happening."

Legal representation is expensive, and some critics say lawyers have created quasi-monopolies in some areas that raise the cost of their services.

"You can hardly find a lawyer who charges less than $150 per hour, which is out of reach for most people," said Gillian Hadfield, a law professor at the University of Southern California.

In many areas, from immigration and family law to bankruptcy and housing disputes, she said, nonlawyer specialists could be trained to provide useful legal assistance. But nonlawyers who represent clients in court or provide other legal help face prosecution for the unauthorized practice of law, a violation of state bar rules.

"The U.S. is unusual in how restrictive the rules are on who can give you assistance in court," Ms. Hadfield said.

Many who go without a lawyer are too well off to qualify for free legal aid, even if they can't foot the bill for private lawyers, attorneys said. "The problem is growing for the middle class," said Larry Tribe, who heads the U.S. Justice Department's Access to Justice Initiative.

Most legal-aid organizations, which provide free legal services to people at or near the poverty line, have cut back as they have absorbed cuts in the funding they rely on from governmental and private sources just as demand for their services has risen. The Legal Aid Society in New York City, for instance, this year lost nearly $1.8 million in funding from its budget of about $30 million because of state and city budget cuts.

"We can only help one out of every nine people who solicit our help," said Steven Banks, the head of the organization, which assisted about one in seven people who asked for help before the recession.

There are no comprehensive statistics on how many people represent themselves in court. But nationwide, 60% of state judges reported increases in the number of civil litigants who appeared in court last year without counsel, the American Bar Association said in a July 12 survey. Parties were hurt by not having a lawyer, 62% of the surveyed judges said.

Katie Vickers, a 70-year-old Florida retiree who isn't a lawyer, said she agreed in 2008 to help a church friend petition for workers' compensation benefits. She said her friend, who didn't have an attorney, needed help typing legal documents and answering questions in court. The friend lost his claim, she said.

Now, Ms. Vickers is facing legal problems of her own. The Florida Bar filed a court petition in March claiming that Ms. Vickers had engaged in the unlicensed practice of law and should be fined $1,000.

The bar has a duty "to protect the public from incompetent or unethical representation," said Florida bar counsel Lori Holcomb. Ms. Vickers denied that she had practiced law and said she would vigorously defend herself—without a lawyer.

Write to Nathan Koppel at nathan.koppel-AT-wsj.com

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2)

Defiant Jacksonville retiree charged with practicing law without license

She helped a sick friend with workers comp.

Posted: June 16, 2010
BRUCE LIPSKY/The Times-Union

Katie Vickers sits with the paperwork alleging she has been practicing law without a license after she assisted a church friend with workers compensation motions. The Florida Bar has filed a charge against Vickers, 70. “I’m not breaking the law,” she says.

By Kate Howard

Katie Vickers says she was helping a sick friend when she typed some documents for his court case and signed her name at the bottom.

The Jacksonville retiree claims she wasn’t trying to act as an attorney.

Now she really is — defending herself against a charge of practicing law without a license.

The Florida Bar accuses Vickers of portraying herself as an attorney by helping a friend from church type motions and request hearings in his workers compensation case. He didn’t have a computer or a lawyer.

“I’m not breaking the law,” Vickers said. “It’s a stretch.”

But the Bar believes she went beyond just typing, assisting her friend the way a lawyer would. They asked her to sign a cease-and-desist order and promise not to do it again, but Vickers refused.

“I felt like that would be admitting I did something wrong,” she said.

Why is the Bar pursuing costly sanctions again a 70-year-old woman?

“To protect the public,” said Bar counsel Lori Holcomb. “Our committee that investigated it felt that she would continue, and perhaps do this for someone else.”

Vickers is familiar with the courtroom, because she worked for many years in a state office that attempted to collect child-support payments.

But she’s never worked in the legal profession nor aspired to. She spends most of her time now at church or with her husband at their home in a tidy Mandarin subdivision.

The subject of the workers comp case, Artemias Rivers, is a member of her church, and Vickers wanted to help. He was sick, suffering from lung problems he believed were developed on the job and had recently undergone surgery that caused more pain. Rivers said he knew she wasn’t a lawyer, and she didn’t give him legal advice or ask him for any money. He suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, interstitial lung disease and sarcoidosis, and is considered disabled. He’s currently at home, living on disability checks and dealing with the pain.

“It’s outrageous the Bar would come after her when I had four or five attorneys who didn’t do their job,” Rivers said of the lawyers who dropped his case. “I’m not saying Mrs. Vickers was acting as my attorney, but why don’t they go after those attorneys?”

Attempting to help

Vickers signed the bottom of one document, “Katie Vickers for Artemias Rivers,” and in 2008 began going with him to court hearings held inside the judge’s chambers. She said she tried to help him answer questions he didn’t understand.

Soon, she was not allowed in the chamber, and neither was the court reporter. She was prevented from taking notes and said in her court filing early this month that she was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

Cary Braswell, the lawyer representing JA-RU, the Jacksonville branch of a toy company that employed Rivers, filed a formal request that she stop helping Rivers with his case. Braswell could not be reached for comment.

The judge granted their request, and Vickers stopped going to the courthouse. Rivers lost the case. They both thought it was over.

But Braswell had also filed a complaint with the Bar.

That’s when the Bar sent the cease-and-desist letter. A year later, Vickers was served with the charge that could bring up a $1,000 fine.

“I was shocked,” she said.

According to Holcomb, the Bar has brought lawsuits in 45 complaints for practicing law without a license so far this fiscal year. She said most of the cases are similar to Vickers’.

“If you think of the things that lawyers do, we investigate cases of non-lawyers doing the same thing,” Holcomb said. “As soon as you tell someone, 'I can represent you,’ or 'I can help you with your legal matter,’ and then you actually help them, that would be crossing the line.”

An 'obscure line’

Vickers likely crossed some lines, said Stetson University of Law professor Lee Coppock, but he’s baffled as to why the Bar would bring charges.

He teaches professional responsibility courses that focus on this issue, mainly to ensure that law students don’t try to help friends and loved ones before they’re qualified to do so.

“It’s a fairly obscure line,” Coppock said. “I would be shocked if they didn’t have some basis to believe she did cross that line, but why go after this if she isn’t likely to do that again? ... This lady doesn’t sound like a threat to anybody, unless she gave someone bad advice.”

The Florida Bar has brought cases like this before, one of which drew national attention. In 1976, the Bar sued Rosemary Furman of Jacksonville for selling do-it-yourself divorce kits and helping clients fill out legal forms for a small fee.

Furman was eventually ordered to shutter her business, but she became renowned as an advocate for improving access to justice.

Vickers is hesitant to hire an attorney for herself, afraid costs will skyrocket if the case drags on. For now, she’s researching — solidifying her defense, documenting everything she can and hoping for the best.

She has asked for a court date to defend herself against the charges, which she intends to take to trial.

“I think what they’re doing is a vendetta against me to make sure I shut my mouth and never help anybody again,” Vickers said. “If someone needed help and asked me to type something for them, I probably would type it. There’s no law against it, I don’t think.”

kate.howard-AT-jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4697
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LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS IS A VOLUNTEER WWW LOBBY THAT SINGS OUT FOR OUR MIDDLE~CLASS & POORER AMERICANS SUCH AS THIS BEAUTIFUL AND CARING GRANDMA KATIE VICKERS OF FLORIDA.PUNISHING SPECIAL AMERICAN'S LIKE KATIE WHO ATTEMPT TO ASSIST OTHER LESS FORTUNATE AMERICANS IN OUR TROUBLED JUDICIAL SYSTEM IS A CRIME IN ITSELF.

lawyersforpooreramericans-AT-gmail.com
(424-247-2013)

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