Anne's Story For Justice

It’s happened to all of us. Go to leave work after a long day, juggling everything in your hands to get your keys out and you place your phone, drink or even your purse on the top of the car while you open the door. Somewhere in the chaos, you forget that you placed it there and drive away. This is what happened to Anne. However, the stakes were much higher, she is now imprisoned and facing felony theft charges for her mistake.

Anne was a highly regarded manager of a local convenience store. She worked hard, was loyal and put in overtime month after month. One of her daily duties was to deliver the stores bank deposit to the bank. After a long shift, she left work with the deposit and drove to the bank; only to realize she had done the unthinkable. She had placed the deposit on her car and drove off – the deposit was gone.

Due to this mistake, and the employer’s knowledge that it was a mistake, she was allowed to quit her job opposed to officially being fired in an effort to maintain her professional reputation.

Two weeks later, she was arrested for felony theft and taken into custody where she will be forced to remain as the court system is backlogged and her friends and family are unable to secure the nearly $60,000 in bail and fees to have her released.

To read more about Anne’s story and to help her get justice, click here: 

Leanne Kirsch suffered multiple miscarriages as a result of the emotional stress and  physical abuse that she suffered while she was pregnant. She was abused while pregnant with her both of her children; however, they survived.

Jim Kirsch severely abused both his wife and his children. He hit them, kicked them, knocked them to the floor, and then laughed at their helplessness. He used a combination of extreme sleep deprivation and hard labor as just one of his many forms of emotional abuse. He was exceedingly emotionally abusive: yelling, cursing, and insulting his family daily. He left images of teen pornography on his computer for children to see, children who were way too young to be exposed to such profound obscenity.

Eventually the abuse become so severe that Leanne feared for her life and the lives of her children. She fled to a domestic violence shelter and finally divorced James Kirsch. Leanne and her children were allowed to move out of the state of Wisconsin to the protection of her home state of Indiana. As they left, James Kirsch expanded his reign of terror to a new wife. His young son, fearing for his new stepmother’s life, even tried to teach her tae-kwon-do so that she could protect herself. He also became more violent toward his own two children. After a particularly abusive period, the courts interviewed the children and determined their father was a true danger to them. A Child Abuse Protective Order was issued for each of his own children (in addition to the child of his second wife). He was ordered to have no communication with his own children whatsoever.

Despite an Indiana trial and resultant Order of Protection, the state of Wisconsin would not uphold the Order of Protection. James Kirsch was charged with substantial battery with intentional bodily harm, but yet the courts refused to protect his children. Leanne, who resided in Indiana with her children, received a letter demanding the Protective Order to be dropped — and, astoundingly, the children were to be turned over to James Kirsch unsupervised and unprotected. Leanne was not served. The order wasn’t even in the form of a certified letter. Initially Leanne didn’t even believe it was real. Jim Kirsch had previous domestic violence convictions and was in trial for three felony charges: aggregated assault, strong-arm violence, and intimidating victims /witnesses. He had thrown his new wife violently and she landed against the wall and a humidifier, breaking her ribs and perforating her lung. He then drugged her with sleeping pills so that she would not go to the hospital. When she eventually got help, she barely survived.

Given all this, Leanne sought advice from her women and child Domestic Violence advocacy professionals, the WI Coalition Against Domestic Violence, law enforcement, and her attorney, all of whom told Leanne that the Protective Orders could NOT be vacated legally and to uphold the Protective Orders and protect her children.

Leanne was subsequently charged with contempt for not leaving her children unsupervised with this violent man, even though this new edict requiring visitation was not obtained procedurally or legitimately. Expunging these contempt charges will involve a lengthy appeals process that has recently become more murky. Leanne continues to be extraneously fined. She has been forced to pay her ex-husband’s attorney fees in addition to her own. She has been ORDERED that the kids must participate in visitation with James Kirsch and absorb all the costs for travel and payment of said visits. Although the children have consistently refused to see James Kirsch, they are continually being forced to travel back to Wisconsin to make that refusal in person. Now Leanne has been told that if she does not pay all the courts fees and fines by June 5, she will face a lengthy jail sentence.

Leanne’s children are terrified of the prospect of ever seeing their father again.

This is gross injustice. Leanne has exhausted all of her funding resources. Her friends seek help from others who are concerned about this miscarriage of justice. Please contribute!

Help our family

My name is Donna Munoz, and I am trying to raise money for a defense attorney for my sister in law and her husband due to their pending CPS case.  They are wonderful parents and when their youngest child was sick and could not keep anything down, they did what any other parent would do, took him to the hospital.

The hospital did an initial exam and tests, and discharged the boy with the instructions to bring the child back if the symptoms continue.  The following day they returned to the hospital and again the child was discharged without a diagnosis.  They then took the child to his regular doctor who recommended if the symptoms continued they should take the child to a hospital that was more than 40 miles from their home.  

The symptoms continued, so they took the child to the hospital that his regular doctor recommended.  The doctors there ran tests but again said nothing was wrong and discharged him with the instructions to come back if the symptoms persisted. They ended up going back the next day and again the hospital was going to send the child home. 

My sister in law found this unacceptable, and after protesting, the hospital did admit the child to run more tests. After being in the hospital for about a week, CPS became involved. My sister in law was told that CPS was taking their kids due to a doctor’s allegation. They did my sister in law and her husband to stay at the hospital with the child until he was discharged.

During this situation, we were caring for their other child in our home.  CPS called us at 2:30 AM to inform us that we had to bring the child to their offices.  Their only evidence being one allegation from one doctor, and CPS has taken both of these children. 

This has been so heartbreaking for our family. We have found an attorney to help us but it is going to cost $5,000.00.  Due to medical conditions, my husband and I can only do so much. We are asking for help mend our family back together.  We would appreciate any help possible. 

To donate to our legal defense fund

Thank you so much and God Bless.

Raise money online to hire and attorney

Crowd funding is one of the best ways that you can use to raise money to pay your attorney. For you to succeed in doing so, you must promote your campaign very diligently and consistently. A well written story and a powerful video is not enough if you want to raise enough money. You have to ensure that your story gets to as many people as possible. You must also repeat your message as frequently as possible. Below is a guide on how utilize crowdfunding effectively to raise moneyto hire an attorney:

• Create a personal email.
Draft an email about your story and send it to all the people on your contact list. It is advisable that you personalize this email for every potential donator then send it to them individually. Send the message together with a link to your campaign page. Ensure that you email is clear about your intentions which are to get donations. Ask for donations from everyone that you contact.

• Constantly update and communicate.
You can do this on your campaign page plus your personal emails. You might think that you are bothering your supporters but frequent messages helps in keeping them in the loop. Frequent communication helps them realize how important your campaign is to you. It also helps your supporters track the progress you are making. Constant communication also helps people to donate more than once. Send at least 1-2 messages to your supporters weekly.

• Utilize your social media.
Take advantage of the free social media. Update information about your fundraising on your Facebook account, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. Try and post regular updates every day about your progress in the campaign and ask for more donations.


• Show appreciation in good time
When somebody makes a donation, ensure that you send a thank you message as soon as possible. If possible, do it in public for example on your campaign page. This makes them feel good making it easy for them to spread the word to others. This is the best way to grow your network. Request all your supporters to spread the word to their personal network.  Also, as a good touch thank them on your own Twitter and Facebook page this lets other people see your campaign.

• Look for media to cover your story.
Crowdfunding is still a relatively new and novel concept.  Reporters love stories that are novel and will get other people talking about them. How can you spin your story to become more newsworthy? Reach out to local reporters and media outlets. This maybe a newspaper or a TV station. Find as many channels as you can for the more your story is heard, the more donations you are likely to receive. Publicity is the key to a successful crowdfunding. Get out there and talk, call and tweet to everyone you know. You never know which contact will help you get to your goal. 

Crowd funding for legal fees

Written by Michael Helfand, Chief Executive Officer, Funded Justice

Imagine you are playing a baseball game. The game is tied, bottom of the ninth, two outs. You are up to bat and take a big swing. The ball rockets off of your bat and heads over the wall in the outfield. You win. All that is left is for you to round the bases. You touch first, then second, then third. You are about to get home and celebrate your big win when suddenly the umpire tells you that your home run doesn’t count and they are taking an earlier run away. You lose, they win. It’s completely unfair, but there’s nothing you can do about it.

What I described sounds ridiculous, but the truth is that this is a situation that happens every day in courtrooms throughout our country. If the legal system was fair, the person that deserves to win would win and nothing unfair would happen to them. But the reality is that if you don’t go to court with an attorney and your opponent does, you will likely lose. If you go with an attorney, but they aren’t any good and your opponent has a great one, you will likely lose no matter how much you deserve to win. It’s no more fair than a homerun being taken away from a batter, but the truth is that justice in the courtroom is often based on who can afford it.

The economy is getting better, but many people can’t afford a retainer fee to hire the right attorney for their case. So they either go it alone or with an unqualified law firm. In some cases, lack of money prevents any opportunity for justice.

In the past if you needed money for a lawyer, the thought was to see if a friend or family member would loan you a few thousand dollars. Unfortunately most people don’t have this type of friend. But the way you raise money for a lawyer has now changed.

With the advent of crowd funding, people now understand that asking one friend for a few thousand isn’t the right question. Instead, it makes more sense to see if 100 friends can loan you $20.00. Funded Justice is leading the way in legal crowd funding and helping solve the problem of people not being given the opportunity to get a fair date in court. Their site is unique in that it’s solely focused on the legal industry and provides an option to have donations re-paid upon the conclusion of a successful case. Per their website, what they want to do is give people a chance at legal fairness by telling their story and seeking donations from friends, family members and strangers.

In other words, if you deserve the home run, you get the home run. If you deserve a strikeout, that happens too. But just as results on the baseball field should be fair, courtroom results should be too. Hopefully with legal funding websites leading the way, people who previously could not afford to pay for their day in court can now have a fair chance to participate in the game.

About Funded Justice

Funded Justice is leading the way in legal crowdfunding and helping individuals have their day in court. For too long, the assumption has been that both side of a case are equally represented, and we know that this is not always the case. Funded Justice is uniquely qualified to level this playing field and truly create an environment where both sides have the best representation possible.

If you are involved in a legal dispute and think that having more money to hire the best attorney possible would help, feel free to visit our website and learn more. Also, if you work with a 501(c)(3) non-profit and have issues that are taken up by any court, contact us, and we may be able to get your organization more than $10,000 per month in advertising grants.

To learn more, visit us on the web, Facebook and Twitter.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/funded-justice-the-affordable-choice-in-the-courtroom.html#ixzz3ay6c35lP

What Do You Think Of This and Our Justice System?

May 13, 2014; The Guardian

Michael McAlister received two very rare things Wednesday: a pardon from the governor of Virginia, and an apology.

McAlister was wrongfully convicted for abduction and attempted rape in 1986 after the victim mistakenly identified him as her assailant. He served his sentence but was facing civil commitment as a result of his charges—a state-supervised lockup from which few offenders, if any, ever see release.

The pardon comes thanks to the efforts of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, a nonprofit firm that seeks to free the wrongly convicted, and two attorneys with the private firm Miller & Chevalier, who prepared McAlister’s petition pro bono. In full-time practice, Miller & Chevalier attorneys James Bensfield and Jonathan Kossak specialize in white-collar defense cases and government investigation matters.

Another man, serial rapist Norman Bruce Derr, eventually confessed to the crime for which McAlister spent 29 years in prison. Derr is currently serving three consecutive life sentences.

The assistance of the Miller & Chevalier attorneys is noteworthy because a  Virginia State Bar Association study identified a “pro bono gap” in 2014, reporting that “less than 9 percent of Virginia’s active lawyers rendered any pro bono legal services through an organized pro bono program, whether sponsored by a legal aid society or by another organization.”

In a press release, Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe said, “The integrity of our justice system depends on the guarantee of a fair trial that is informed by all available evidence. Protecting that integrity requires quick action in the event that new evidence comes to light.”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Governor McAuliffe told McAlister that he was sorry that his office’s investigation had taken so long—just over a month—before reaching its conclusion. McAlister reportedly replied that he wasn’t used to things moving quickly.—Nadia Pflaum

Five Questions to Ask Your Lawyer

Five Questions to Ask Your Lawyer

Before you hire a lawyer, you'll want to be sure you are making the right decision. In any legal process, you will want to be sure that you are doing everything correctly or else your case may be rejected or lost. This is why it's so important to hire a lawyer whenever you're involved with any legal situation. However, it can be a little hard to find and hire a great lawyer to represent you, especially because there are too many different lawyers out there. If you ask some important questions while searching for lawyers, you'll be sure to find the right one for you and your case. This article will help you get the five most important Questions to ask attorney, and how to determine their worth.

How much experience does the lawyer have with working on cases similar to yours? This is the most significant question that you can ask your lawyer. You wouldn't hire a foot doctor to perform heart surgery on you. The same goes for lawyers. You won't want to hire a lawyer that doesn't have any experience working with cases similar to yours. Ensure you hire a lawyer that has plenty of experience and a high success rate with cases similar to yours.

How much will you be needed to pay when the case is over? It is the next question that you should ask every lawyer you interview. The way you pay a lawyer is really dependent on what kind of lawyer you're hiring. Some lawyers will charge you only if your case is won, and some lawyers will charge you on an hourly basis. The important thing is to know what you'll pay when all is said and done, as well as when you're expected to pay it. If money is an issue a good first place to look is Funded Justice. Funded Justice helps individuals set up crowdfunding campaigns to raise money for any legal issue.

What does the lawyer think the outcome of your case will be? You'll always want to get a good idea for which direction your case will go once it gets to court or goes through the whole process. A good lawyer should be able to give you a pretty good idea.

What can you do to help the case along? A lawyer isn't alone in the process alone and can benefit from your interaction and help with the case. Ask your lawyer how you can help, and you may be surprised at what you can do.

Finally, what is the lawyer's preferred method of communication? Most lawyers communicate with their clients in a specific way. Ask your lawyer what the best way is to communicate with him.

Why Funded Justice?

Why Funded Justice? 

In 2001, I started my Illinois lawyer referral and legal guidance website with the goal of changing the way that people could find attorneys.  At the time, the internet was still in its infancy and most law firms did not have websites.  

The only real way to get an attorney was through the Yellow Pages, the recommendation from a friend or a Bar Association. If you just wanted a question answered for free without having to go to an attorney’s office, there were very limited resources.  The problem with all of those options is that none of them take into consideration your unique legal situation and what is best for you.  

My law firm isn’t perfect, but we have helped more than 300,000 people with their unique legal problems.  Sometimes that meant helping them figure out that they didn’t even need an attorney.  Still, there was one problem I could never solve: affordable legal service.   

At least once a day, I would receive calls from good, honest people with lots of problems who were getting screwed over by the legal system.  A person in need of a divorce who couldn't afford a lawyer due to a spouse taking all of the marital funds.  An older gentleman, who committed a crime as a teen but had turned his life around, and couldn’t afford to get a pardon.  A consumer who was being bullied by a large corporation.    

All of these callers would prevail in the courtroom if they could get in with a level playing field, but they can't afford it.  In my opinion, most of the free legal services out there are a joke and many have long waiting periods.  If your apartment is infected with roaches, that won't do you any good.   

What typically happens is one of three things: people just give up, they try and represent themselves but end up digging a big hole, or they hire a cheap attorney with no experience who makes the situation worse. 

I’ve always wanted to help these callers, but the reality is that attorneys are business people.  If they didn’t get paid, they wouldn’t be around for long.  I found myself parroting the line, “I wish I could help you, but unfortunately there’s nothing I can do for you.”  This gave me angst because some of the callers had truly sad stories.  They lived through the strife of having abusive spouses, bosses who were sexually harassing them, slum lords, and DCFS stealing their children.  I just couldn’t do anything about it.  

This past summer I read the biography of Biz Stone, the founder of Twitter.  I don’t “tweet” but I do find the company inspiring, since it genuinely seems to want to help people and make the world a better place.  In one chapter, Stone talks about how an entrepreneur is really a problem solver and then it clicked for me.  I had never really sought a solution for the people that I couldn’t help.

I began talking to Chicago lawyers that I respected.  They told me that about 30% of clients who want to hire them don't because they can’t afford a retainer.  This made me wonder what we can do to get these people in the door and give them a chance at legal fairness.  

One day, it kind of just hit me that crowd funding was an option that needed to be explored.  If someone tells me that they can’t afford a lawyer, I ask if they have a family member or friend that would loan them the money.  Most people don’t know anyone that will lend $1,500 or whatever the needed amount is.  I realized then that we were asking the wrong question.  Instead of seeking one person to give a large amount, why not seek 100 people to each give $15?  I would do that for someone I cared about and I know many others would too. 

We also hope to be a good alternative to the legalized loan sharks that give plaintiffs loans in their case, but charge exorbitant interest rates.  In one case I was involved in years ago, a desperate client had to borrow $75,000.00.  When the case settled years later, the loan company fee had risen to over $400,000.00!!!  That's criminal and I wanted to find a way to stop it from happening.

I’ve just launched Funded Justice, a website to help people crowd fund for legal help.  It’s in its infancy, but it's very exciting because I believe that if someone is willing to reach out and tell their story, people will help them.  Like other crowd funding sites we do take a small commission to keep the site running.  Aside from that though, it's safe, secure, and doesn't cost anything except your time to sign up.   

I realize that this won’t help everyone, but if we can help even a fraction of the people who can’t otherwise get a fair shot, then we will be a huge success. 

Funded Justice, announces that it has been chosen as the crowd funding platform for Erwin Magnaye's Defense Fund

Funded Justice, announces that it has been chosen as the crowd funding platform for Erwin Magnaye's Defense Fund

Funded Justice, announces that it has been chosen as the crowd funding platform for Erwin Magnaye's Defense Fund May 19, Chicago, Illinois, United States- Funded Justice, a unique startup that introduced the concept of raising funds for legal fees through its crowdfunding platform, is pleased to announce that it has been chosen as the legal fundraising platform for Erwin Magnaye’s defense fund. The partnership will allow Erwin Magnaye’s supporters the ability to have a centralized location to raise funds. In addition, because of Funded Justice’s partnership with Headtalker’s, viral crowd speaking platform, the Magnaye’s campaign will have an accelerated exposure to social media. Crowd speaking is one of the newest ways to expand your social media reach. When people support your crowd speaking campaign, they agree to have a message sent out to their social network (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Tumblr) at a specific time. This increases the chances that your crowdfunding campaign, message, link, or hashtag will go viral. Today, most Americans struggle to get justice, and are unable to present their case strongly in court, simply because they cannot afford a lawyer. Funded Justice was formed with the goal of providing to people with legal issues a unique platform allowing them to raise money to hiring an attorney. With Funded Justice, people can create campaigns and share their story on social media, encouraging others to donate to their cause. Moreover, the site allows people to choose flexible spending campaigns, where people get all the money that has been pledged, or all-or-nothing campaigns, which require the campaign to be completely funded before the person can receive the funds.   “Good people with good cases either can’t hire the right attorney, or anyone at all, because they can’t afford it," Funded Justice CEO Michael Helfand said. "The sad truth is that if you can’t afford the right attorney, you don’t have a fair chance at justice." Although the concept is new, it has received quite a positive response from people all across America. Having hosted numerous successful campaigns since its launch, the future of this new crowdfunding for legal defense is extremely bright.   For more information, simply visit: Funded Justice or to see the Erwin Magnaye Defense Fund  About Funded Justice Funded Justice, a Chicago startup, is a crowdfunding community for anyone with a legal issue that needs money to hire an attorney. Funded Justice provides a straightforward, easy way to raise money quickly for legal causes. Harnessing the power of social media and the Internet, users can find hundreds and potentially thousands of people who are willing to help. Contact Information: Alan Savage info@fundedjustice.com 312-346-6014

Why should your ability to afford a lawyer affect your legal outcome?

 We try to talk to people directly and in plain English.  That’s how we want to be treated when we need someone’s help and that’ how we think you want to be treated too.  

In a perfect world, the person in the right would win their legal case.  But anyone who lives in reality knows that isn’t true.  There are countless examples in our country of wealthy people who have won their cases simply because they can afford the best representation.  Money talks.  

If you go to any courthouse you’ll see that you are allowed to represent yourself, but most Judges won’t listen to you if you don’t have a lawyer in your corner.  Again, it shouldn’t work that way, but it does.  

This unfairness is what inspired us to create www.fundedjustice.com.  We don’t want to take sides in a legal fight.  What we do want to do is make sure that if you are going to have your day in court, you don’t lose because you had to hire the cheapest attorney you can find or no lawyer at all.  

Our goal is to have a level playing field for anyone that needs legal help.  Most of the people we talk to are good people with good claims.  A lot of them know the right attorney to lead them to success.  They just need help in hiring that person.  

With Funded Justice, you can get the word out as to what you are going through and hopefully have friends, loved ones and strangers give you some help.  

The question we asked at the beginning of this post was why should your ability to afford a lawyer affect your legal outcome?  The answer is that it shouldn’t.  Every time we can help someone get proper legal funding it’s a victory for everyone.  Because when the just result takes place, everybody wins.

So, if you are looking for a way to raise legal funds or general fundraising ideas for legal issues --> www.fundedjustice.com is the first place you should look.