Helping those who serve for us all...

During this holiday season, please consider how you can continue to help and support our servicemembers who face civil legal issues, like Sergeant Jacob Olson.

Sergeant Jacob Olson* was a victim of identity theft. Fraudulent credit accounts and a mortgage were taken out under Olson’s name. This was a particular concern for Sergeant Olson because, without correcting his credit report, he could not obtain security clearance to re-enlist in his military occupational specialty.

Sergeant Olson spent months trying to clean up this matter. He was unsuccessful, so he turned to a JAG for help. However, due to the complexity of the matter, the JAG was limited in the services that he could provide, and Olson could not imagine how he could hire a civilian attorney with his limited income. What Olson’s JAG could do, however, was refer his case to the ABA Military Pro Bono Project.

The ABA Military Pro Bono Project accepts case referrals from military legal assistance offices anywhere in the world on behalf of junior-enlisted, active-duty servicemembers with civil legal issues, and it places these cases with pro bono attorneys where the legal assistance is needed in the United States.

The Project located an attorney who offered to provide pro bono help. While Sergeant Olson was deployed in Afghanistan, the volunteer attorney worked with the involved lenders and successfully cleared Olson’s name from the fraudulent loans. After his return from Afghanistan, Olson was able to obtain a new security clearance, allowing him to re-enlist and continue to serve our county.  

With your support, you will help to ensure that our servicemembers, who sacrifice so much for our country, receive the legal help that they need.

Read more about how volunteer attorneys are helping our servicemembers through the Project, and how you can get involved.

*This name has been changed to protect this client’s privacy.

Please visit the ABA Military Pro Bono Project website, www.militaryprobono.org, to further explore how you can help our servicemembers receive the legal representation that they need by joining the Project roster or making a tax-deductible financial contribution. Contact the ABA Military Pro Bono Project Director, Mary C. Meixner, at mary.meixner@americanbar.org or 312.988.5783, with any questions.