Non-CAP Volunteer of the Month – November 2021

Michael Kind – Kind Law

Michael Kind grew up in New York and received his Juris Doctor from Cornell University, where he was part of the Pro Bono Scholars Program. After graduating from law school, he worked with Kazerouni Law Group, a firm that encourages its attorneys to take on pro bono cases. The firm represented clients with consumer protection cases almost exclusively. 

Michael quickly learned that this area of law was underserved but saw that the Legal Aid Center was doing its part to help victims of consumer fraud. Legal Aid Center was not only helping consumers directly but also assisting attorneys in helping their clients by providing consumer-related CLEs. Michael admires the Legal Aid Center’s work to help the community with consumer protection issues, so he helps by volunteering whenever possible. 

When he opened Kind Law in 2019, it was important for the firm to practice kindness and try to give back to the community when possible. The firm’s first cases were all pro bono since they were the only cases he took with him from his old firm. When we asked him why he does pro bono, he said, “I spent my final semester of law school interning with the Clark County Public Defender’s Office as part of my law school’s Pro Bono Scholars program. I saw how important legal representation was generally, especially because of how complex our legal system is. When it comes to civil cases, there is no similar right to a public defender. This can sometimes leave people who can’t afford a lawyer with no justice after being victimized by consumer fraud. Because my experience is almost exclusively in consumer protection, I just try to do my part to help others when I can because I know how hard our justice system is to navigate without representation.”

We asked Michael to share a story of his most memorable client: “One of the areas where I have the most experience is called ‘debt defense’. That’s when I defend someone who has been sued by a debt collection company, payday loan company, etc. One case that stands out is a client who was trying to represent themselves in court. They were trying to get the case dismissed by proving that there was a $0 balance since it was already paid. But not only did the debt collector not drop the case, it started to garnish my client’s wages. Once I got involved, we were not only able to get the garnishment to stop and the case to go away, but the debt collection company had to pay my client for the fraud they were trying to commit.”

For his commitment to pro bono, we honor Michael Kind as our November 2021 Volunteer of the Month.