Pro Bono Net would like to recognize the thousands of volunteer lawyers who make a huge difference for those in need and the incredibly important work of pro bono volunteers in building our capacity to meet the vast unmet need for civil legal services. To wrap up our Pro Bono Week celebration, we are taking a break from our Volunteering Through Technology Initiative to bring you a bonus volunteer profile! Our bonus profile highlights the work of R. Gary Higgins with Southeast Louisiana Legal Services’ Northshore Pro Bono Project. We are very proud to showcase the volunteers from our pro bono community and hope they may inspire you to get involved as well.
R. Gary Higgins, Jr., Northshore Pro Bono Project Volunteer
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services
R. Gary Higgins, Jr., a local pro bono hero from Covington, Louisiana, has been an unwavering volunteer for Southeast Louisiana Legal Services’ (SLLS) Northshore Pro Bono Project donating hundreds of hours to expand access to justice for vulnerable people. Gary began volunteering with SLLS while attending law school. He has continued to donate his time and talents after becoming a licensed attorney. Gary practices in the areas of family law, real estate, and successions. He is never shy about taking on new challenges and lending a hand to help people in need.
For the past year, Gary has regularly staffed SLLS’ Washington Parish Self Help Resource Center in rural Washington Parish, an area with a 26% poverty rate and no physical civil legal aid office located there. When SLLS decided to launch a new Self-Help Desk in St. Tammany Parish in June 2016, Gary answered the call to service. He has already donated almost 30 hours to this brand new initiative.
Gary volunteered at the Give NOLA Day event in May helping to set up and staff a table as well as encouraging donations for the cause. While in law school, he volunteered over a semester doing legal research and drafting pleadings. While studying for the bar he continued to handle legal research tasks and drafted domestic pleadings and memoranda. Once admitted to practice, Gary also took on pro bono divorce and custody cases. He has volunteered at all four of SLLS’s Wills for Heroes events where wills and other estate planning documents are drafted for first responders. No task is too big or too small for Gary. Always ready to help, he has even grabbed a ladder and changed out light bulbs in our Covington office when needed!
Mr. Higgins graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in English with a minor in History. He then went on to law school at Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he graduated magna cum laude. While attending law school, he served as a teaching assistant for legal writing as well as a senior editor on the law review.
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services offers civil legal aid to low-income people in Southeast Louisiana. Our mission is to achieve justice for low-income people in Louisiana by enforcing and defending their legal rights through civil legal aid, advocacy and community education. SLLS is Louisiana’s largest provider of free civil legal aid and works with government and public service agencies to secure justice for persons in need.