Alabama State Bar (FREE LEGAL ADVICE - 2011 AL Tornadoes)

The Alabama State Bar Association started a toll-free legal helpline: 800-354-6154. Also dispensing free advice is Legal Services: 866-456-4995.

"For everyone affected by the tornado disaster, we are offering free legal assistance statewide to those who can't otherwise af­ford it," said Alabama Bar Association Presi­dent Alyce Spruell. The state bar's Volun­teer Lawyers Program, the University of Alabama School of Law and the Tuscaloosa Bar Association conducted walk-in clinics in Tuscaloosa on Thursday for tornado vic­tims.

"We just started but we anticipate help­ing with insurance claims, perhaps probate claims for those losing a family member, maybe even some domestic family issues -- misplaced families, child visitation issues and the like," said David Rains, a volunteer lawyer from the firm Rosen Harwood in Tuscaloosa More clinics are planned for Birmingham and around the state in coming weeks, sponsored by an array of legal groups, in­cluding the state bar association, local bar associations and volunteer lawyer pro­grams.

One of the most pressing legal concerns involves storm victims who are renters of houses, apartments or mobile homes made uninhabitable by the storm, said Lisa Bor­den, who directs pro bono programs for Baker Donelson in Birmingham.

Alabama law allows a renter to terminate the lease in such a situation by sending a letter to the landlord -- but the renter must do it within 14 days, which would mean a May 11 deadline for those displaced during the April 27 storms, Borden said.

"When you do that, the termination is ef­fective the date you vacated," she said. "And the reason that's important for most folks who have lost everything is that they are en­titled to get their security deposit back. For those who have lost everything, that secu­rity deposit and any prepaid rent might be a considerable amount of money."

Brochures highlighting the May 11 dead­line for terminating a lease have been dis­tributed throughout the affected sites by the Montgomery-based lawyers' organization Alabama Appleseed. "This kind of disaster is going to bring out all kinds of needs, in­cluding legal needs," Borden said. "And we will be here."

Here are some upcoming legal assistance clinics sponsored by the Birmingham Vol­unteer Lawyers Program and the Birming­ham Bar Association:

> May 12, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Faith Chapel Christian Center, 100 Lexington Street, Bir­mingham.

> May 24, 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.- 6 p.m., Mount Moriah Baptist Church, 316 Avenue U, Birmingham.

> May 26, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2 p.m.-6 p.m., Bethel Baptist Church, 639 9th Way, Pleasant Grove.