Pro Bono Project Volunteer Of The Month September 2013

Laura Deeter of Ghandi Deeter Law Offices

Laura is a 25 year resident of Las Vegas. She attended Boyd Law School, and has been an attorney for the last six years. Laura has focused her practice on family law, guardianship, probate, and bankruptcy. Laura recently branched out and started Ghandi Deeter Law Offices.

Since becoming an attorney, Laura has been very involved with Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada’s Pro Bono Project. She has been a member of the 100 Hour Club for the last five years, which means that she has spent at least 100 hours, and many years more than 100 hours, on pro bono cases.

Laura finds working on pro bono cases to be extremely rewarding, and believes that giving back to the community she was raised in, through pro bono work, is an important part of her practice. Laura understands that the legal process is very complicated to most people and without the assistance of pro bono attorneys, many clients would not be able to complete their cases, most do not even know where to start or how to go about filling out the paperwork properly and following the proper procedure to proceed with litigation.

During the last several years that Laura has been involved with the Pro Bono Project, she has found that most of the clients are extremely grateful for her help. She has received several token gifts of appreciation, ranging from pictures children have drawn her to a hand painted wooden plate from an elderly client she assisted with his bankruptcy.

Laura said that one of her most rewarding cases was when she represented a mother of two children, with severe disabilities. At the time that Laura got involved with the client, there had been multiple motions filed, all of which were denied solely due to procedural errors. The mother was extremely frustrated because she did not know what else to do, and the stress of the litigation was not allowing her to properly focus her time and attention in taking care of the children. After Laura got involved and took over, the case was resolved, and the mother no longer had to deal with the court issues, and was solely able to care for her children.

Laura believes that everyone should become involved in pro bono work, as taking just one case makes a huge difference in the life of your client, and their families. She finds one of the most rewarding things about pro bono work is seeing the smile on the client’s face and hearing their sigh of relief at the conclusion of their case.

Congratulations, Laura!