Help Fund Lyra's Pro Bono Cases

Hi! I'm Lyra, @pinkrangerlb on twitter. I'm a trans woman lawyer in Atlanta! While I am not a professional social justice lawyer, I do take on a substantial pro bono caseload. My ability to discuss these cases publicly is limited, but I work with and represent incarcerated trans persons, victims of police violence, and the unhoused.

 

While I never, ever, ever, accept compensation for these services, filing fees and court costs are themselves prohibitive for many lower income clients, with $250.00 being on the lower end of filing fees. There are legal mechanisms to allow indigent clients to file for free, but these can be very limited and courts are given unlimited discretion to accept or deny these. Additionally, the process to get approved to file as an indigent takes time. In the case of name changes and other straightforward issues, it can often take longer to get approved to file as an indigent than it does to get the name change done.

 

I'm simply trying to give my clients the option to not have to rely on those time and energy consuming mechanisms, and to prevent them from needing to crowdfund or borrow money for fees. I've set the goal rather high because it would be great to raise enough to not have to worry about this for a while. Thank you so much for thinking about helping out, love you!

 

Please note: I do not work for any non-profit or government agency, my paid job does not involve social justice issues, and neither my statements nor this fundraiser represent my employer in anyway. Please note also that there are ethical restrictions on attorneys' ability to hold funds for any particular client. As such, the money raised here will be used on a case by case basis for filing fees and court costs but it is not client funds. None of this money will be used to compensate me in any way, and donating to this GoFundMe does not create an attorney/client relationship between myself and the donor.