Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org now offers a Spanish translate option

Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org recently expanded its services to include a Spanish translate function, eliminating a potential language barrier and allowing lawyers to even better serve pro bono clients through the virtual walk-in legal clinic. 

Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org is an online platform produced by The Missouri Bar and American Bar Association that enables volunteer lawyers to answer Missouri citizens’ noncriminal legal questions. Volunteer lawyers have answered nearly 5,500 legal questions to assist low-income Missouri citizens through the platform since it was launched in 2017 said Brett Rolwes, legal and community services coordinator at The Missouri Bar. 

The new feature is available to both clients and volunteer lawyers when they log in to their Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org accounts. Users of the platform will now see an orange “Translate” button in the bottom corner of the screen, giving the user an option to select “English” or “Español.” The page will automatically update with the selected language, Rolwes said. 

Rolwes addded Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org expanded its services in early April to help even more Missouri citizens of modest means receive answers to legal questions, at no cost, from licensed Missouri lawyers. As of Dec. 15, volunteer lawyers had answered more than 1,800 questions this year through the platform, Rolwes said. Of the 185 volunteer lawyers, 15 of those volunteers had donated more than 37 hours toward answering legal questions in 2020. Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org has an 84% overall response rate for client questions which Rolwes noted is the highest response rate among volunteer lawyers compared to other states. 

Citizens are encouraged to log in today at Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org to receive answers to the issues related to employment, landlord/tenant problems, contracts, and more that Missouri citizens are facing. 

The Missouri Bar is a statewide organization that is dedicated to improving the legal profession, the law and the administration of justice for all Missourians. Created in 1944 by order of the Supreme Court of Missouri, it serves all 30,000 of Missouri’s practicing lawyers. To achieve its mission, The Missouri Bar provides a wide range of services and resources to its members, as well as the media, educators and the citizens of Missouri. To learn more, visit MoBar.org.