Providing pro bono services to a nonprofit Harrisburg theater company this year made third-year law student Sarah Pregler realize how many legal issues people deal with in their everyday lives.
“We helped our clients review contracts for a space they planned to renovate to put on their shows and hold rehearsals and classes,” she said. “We dealt with contracts, insurance and local ordinances.”
Pregler was among the first Widener law students to provide free legal services to artists as part of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts program, which launched last fall.
VLA is a collaboration between Widener University School of Law, Harrisburg and Dauphin County Bar Association and The MakeSpace Arts Collective and is designed to pair artists in need with volunteer attorneys assisted by law students.
The Dauphin County Bar Association, a professional organization with more than 1,450 lawyers actively engaged in various programs of public service, professional development and personal interaction, first came up with the idea of providing free legal services to income-qualified artists.
Sandy Ballard, the Dauphin County Bar Association’s public services coordinator, credits DCBA member Steven O’Neill, who is an assistant counsel at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency in Harrisburg. She said that the DCBA saw the program as a “win-win-win.”
“It’s a win for the student who get much sought-after ‘client contact.” It’s a win for the artists whom we hope to help. And it’s a win for lawyers who want to do good works but just need the opportunity,” she said.
When Widener Professor Juliet Moringiello heard about VLA, she thought, &quot;Wow, what a great opportunity to get our students some transactional lawyering experience!&quot;
Professor Moringiello points to the current expectation in the legal job market that law schools produce &quot;practice-ready&quot; lawyers. She and Widener Associate Professor Michael J. Hussey immediately saw the value in the partnership.
“While the definition of practice-ready varies depending on the practice environment, we know that every lawyer needs to know how to interact with clients. We think that this program will help us train &quot;client-ready&quot; lawyers,” she said.
Pregler agrees, saying that her matter gave her great experience in interviewing skills and with issue spotting.
Fourth-year extended program student Victoria Beard said the VLA meant something even more personal and was well worth the extra time. Both of her parents were artists, she said.
“An artist may be a brilliant artist but as we all know, just being a good artist doesn't keep one out of needing business and legal advice,” Beard explained. She said that providing services to artists through VLA allowed her to give back to the artistic community in a way she never thought possible.
Beard said she would encourage law students –even busy, working students like her – to give VLA a try. She said while she works a full time job as an administrative law judge for the Department of Human Services, she was able to balance the VLA commitment and her studies.
“I have very little time for myself or for other projects,” Beard said. “So what I do become involved in has to have a purpose.”
Professor Moringiello said that the Dauphin County VLA is the only legal-assistance program designed for artists between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Moringiello, who teaches municipal bankruptcy and is a leading expert on public finance, said that another positive aspect of the VLA collaboration is the impact it has on the city of Harrisburg. “The arts community is deeply committed to making Harrisburg a fun and interesting place to live and visit,” she said.
“That's essential to Harrisburg's financial recovery, of course. And helping the arts community thrive fits in really well with Widener University's nationally-recognized focus on civic engagement.”
Founding MakeSpace artist Liz Laribee agrees, saying that VLA will only help the City grow its creative community.
 
“The potential impact on the artistic community here is huge,” she said. “Programs like this are crucial to helping a creative economies generate and sustain themselves.  Artists have a valuable, risky vocation, and the headache of legal trouble can stop a project, or career, in its tracks. This is a great step forward to help, and I'm so excited to be part of this initiative.”
Pregler’s matter was a case in point. “It was great being able to help this non-profit group because they had gotten a space in an area where they were trying to revitalize the town,” she said.
“It was also great to be able to help them because this was something that they were so passionate about.”