Discover the heart and dedication behind the legal lifelines extended to our community's most vulnerable, as I, Mike Sedita, host a compelling session with Gale Pinkston, managing attorney at Bay Area Legal Services. Tune in and absorb Gale's wealth of expertise on providing critical legal assistance to those who need it most, understanding the intricate web of civil law, and the soul-stirring tales of lives transformed by justice.
In our candid conversation, Gale not only outlines the mission and mechanics of Bay Area Legal but also shares her inspiring personal journey from social work to the legal arena—a move that mirrors the profound commitment to community service we celebrate here on the Good Neighbor Podcast. Embrace the essence of neighborliness through not just her stories but also through our call to action—spotlighting local heroes and businesses that stitch the fabric of our community. This episode isn't just a lesson in law; it's a masterclass in humanity.
Bay Area Legal Services is a non-profit law firm that provides civil legal services to multiple communities and eligible populations throughout the Tampa Bay area. Our statewide help lines assist veterans, seniors and victims of natural disasters. In addition, attorneys practice in areas related to family law, housing, federal income taxation, consumer matters, and many other areas of law. Vulnerable populations that are assisted include but are not limited to victims of domestic violence and relative caregivers.
Discover the heart and dedication behind the legal lifelines extended to our community's most vulnerable, as I, Mike Sedita, host a compelling session with Gale Pinkston, managing attorney at Bay Area Legal Services. Tune in and absorb Gale's wealth of expertise on providing critical legal assistance to those who need it most, understanding the intricate web of civil law, and the soul-stirring tales of lives transformed by justice.
In our candid conversation, Gale not only outlines the mission and mechanics of Bay Area Legal but also shares her inspiring personal journey from social work to the legal arena—a move that mirrors the profound commitment to community service we celebrate here on the Good Neighbor Podcast. Embrace the essence of neighborliness through not just her stories but also through our call to action—spotlighting local heroes and businesses that stitch the fabric of our community. This episode isn't just a lesson in law; it's a masterclass in humanity.
Bay Area Legal Services is a non-profit law firm that provides civil legal services to multiple communities and eligible populations throughout the Tampa Bay area. Our statewide help lines assist veterans, seniors and victims of natural disasters. In addition, attorneys practice in areas related to family law, housing, federal income taxation, consumer matters, and many other areas of law. Vulnerable populations that are assisted include but are not limited to victims of domestic violence and relative caregivers.
(813)752-1335 www.bals.org
Speaker 1:
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Sedita.
Speaker 2:
Hello out there. Welcome to episode 153 of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, Mike Sedita, and today we're joined by Gail Pinkston. She is the managing attorney for Bay Area Legal Gail. How?
Speaker 3:
are you doing today? I'm doing very well, thank you.
Speaker 2:
Thank you so much for being on with us today. Just so you know a little bit about what the Good Neighbor podcast is and how we got started. Back in 2020, during COVID, when the whole planet needed to be socially distant to one another, the Good Neighbor podcast was born in South Florida and over the past now four years, the Good Neighbor podcast has expanded. We have podcasts in Denver, philadelphia, atlanta, virginia, all over the US, and I'm fortunate enough to be the person here in the Tampa market that gets to talk to individuals like yourself. So, with that being said, tell us a little bit about Bay Area Legal.
Speaker 3:
All right, I would be more than happy to and, as you said, I'm a managing attorney, one of multiple managing attorneys with Bay Area Legal Services. We came into inception about 1967 ish, so we've been around for a while. We currently provide legal services without cost to those area residents who are eligible for legal services, so we don't compete with the private sector. We're here for individuals who have more limited resources, but yet they need a legal advocate to help them out in a situation.
Speaker 2:
So let me ask you this. I mean, what would be the difference between your services and a public defender? Are these criminal cases, or is this more like immigration or civil stuff? What is your, what is your purview as far as types of cases?
Speaker 3:
Great. Let me distinguish. So we don't handle criminal matters we do have the public defender for that and we don't take cases that we say are fee gender rating. So, for example, if it's a personal injury of some type auto accidents we do not take those type cases. We have a multitude of different private and some state funding sources that contribute to our cost at Bay Area as well as at the federal level, and they pay for the legal expenses of the individuals who come to us in need.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so give me a garden variety from and it doesn't have to be percentages of X, number of this type or that type, but again, I may be making assumptions but maybe someone who was, I mean, like discrimination stuff. Is it someone who was like contract disputes? What type of stuff is your garden variety person that's walking through the door needing your services?
Speaker 3:
All right, sure. Let me give you just a few examples. One some would say it's a quote unquote tax season we have within Bay Area what's known as a low income taxpayer clinic. So if you're a taxpayer and you have what's called a controversy just means you have a disagreement with the Internal Revenue Service. They say you owe money, they're holding your refund, et cetera. You claimed children, for example, or an older dependent, and there's a disagreement on the money part of it. You can reach out to Bayer Legal Services. Anyone who contacts us will be screened for eligibility. So we are providing services to those in the greatest needs. We establish whether you're eligible and in many instances we open an extended case for representation, and so you don't have to go up against the Internal Re revenue service yourself to try to get your refund or not pay an incorrect tax liability. You would have our staff advocating for you.
Speaker 2:
So when you said there's a qualification process, is it as cut and dry as you need to make below income X? You need to live in a certain zip code. What is what is part of that qualification service, or does it vary from case to case?
Speaker 3:
It varies depending upon your request for legal needs In addition to direct contacting us. We Bay Area also, fortunately, we're the grantee for three statewide helplines. We're the grantee for three statewide helplines, so we have a helpline for veterans, we have helpline for senior citizens and one for victims of natural disasters. So the criteria for eligibility differs with each funding source. They tell us the population they want us to, you know, assist and then we work, you know, within their guidelines and our board of directors.
Speaker 2:
Well, you have like the Holy Trinity there of Florida cases, you know, natural disasters, the elderly and veterans. Ok, so that's good to know that these services they're geared towards those folks. Let me ask you this you said you're one of multiple managing attorneys. How many attorneys do you have in the in or in the service? And I would assume you don't have again, I'm making assumptions. You don't have one location. I'm assuming all of the attorneys work remotely at this point, or do you have an actual office where all of Bay Area Legal comes to every day?
Speaker 3:
We have multiple offices, two in Pasco County, for example, and, to answer your question, we have right now between probably 50 and 60 attorneys. In addition to that we have support staff. So two offices in Pasco County. We have three in Healdsboro County, one in Pinellas. In addition to those offices we do outreach work. For example, the seniors would go over to Polk County and provide some assistance at a different level at Manatee and Sarasota County as well.
Speaker 2:
OK, so let me ask you a question upon a personal side. Were you always the young girl in the in the playground litigating cases in front of the kids like no, she was wrong. She owes three Reese's peanut butter cups back to her. I mean, was that always your personality, or did you want to be like a ballerina or an ice skater or a fire person and kind of fell into this? How did you get to here?
Speaker 3:
You know, I would say the one of. I would describe myself as the person who wanted to help somebody else, who wanted to be of assistance. So I didn't know. My first preferred profession was a social worker, and so I, you know, got a degree in social work, practiced in that area for a while, and that's when I, you know, returned to law school and became an attorney.
Speaker 2:
It's kind of. It's kind of I want to say funny, but you're doing like the legal version of social work. It's kind of the combination of where those two worlds meet. You know, what is one of the things when you talk to people, when someone reaches out to you, what is like a misconception or something that you really need to educate them on that they think you guys offer X, but really that's not what you do. Or what are you running into where you have to correct people and kind of show them, you know, debunk a myth.
Speaker 3:
I would say misunderstanding about what we do and who we help. We have about 40 different funding sources, and so your neighbor may receive assistance or be declined assistance. Your situation is unique, so we request everyone reach out to us and let us, you know, tell us about your situation. We try to fit individuals into one of our funding sources, so our job is to find a way to help as many people as we can.
Speaker 2:
So, essentially, what people need to understand is your legal circumstance is almost like a fingerprint Well, they're you know where fingerprints totally unique. Your, your service, your, what you're requiring is going to differ from case to case and, I would assume, depending on timing, it could. A funding source might be available today, but and maybe your case would be funded today but in a week from now that funding source might be available today and maybe your case would be funded today but in a week from now that funding source might not be available and a case that normally would have been funded just doesn't have the resource. Or are you able to find other resources to kind of backfill?
Speaker 3:
I would say both. Once we open a case, we make a commitment and the Florida Bar has rules and expectations in that regard, so we aren't going to leave people at risk when we've made an obligation. However, it may be true that one year we have resource to help, for example, with certain types of housing. Then we lose that funding and maybe the next year we can't open new cases because we've lost it.
Speaker 2:
Gotcha. So, one of the things I'm always curious about, because I do speak to quite a few attorneys when you go out to dinner with a group of your friends and a topic comes up and there's a disagreement, do people just defer to you or do they want to argue with you because you're an attorney and they want to kind of mix it up to see if they can hold their own?
Speaker 3:
Well, I would say it's probably true for most people. You experience all of the above. I'm going to select that for my answer.
Speaker 2:
I would think that if we were out to dinner with a group of people and somebody brought up a topic, I might just play devil's advocate just to see if I can hold my own with a with someone with Esquire after their name just for a little while, to see how much I can hang. So when you are, I mean, what you're doing is kind of like it's giving back. It is a form of social work for people in need. When it's, it's I don't want to say it's can be depressing work, but it's not really like you're not going to work with rainbows and puppy dogs every day you're going to work with people that have distress and things going on.
Speaker 2:
So when you're not in the office, what do you do to let off steam and have fun?
Speaker 3:
Uh, genealogy, family history. Oh, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2:
Oh, we get interrupted phone calls all the time on this podcast. We can take some live phone calls. Do you want to do a live phone call where we do an intake in the middle of the podcast? All right, so genealogy. So are you a big Ancestrycom person? Do you do 23andMe? Do you do all these DNA testing to kind of track your family tree, or is it multiple people's family trees that you do for fun?
Speaker 3:
Well, I was going to say all of the above, one DNA test, but yes, to keep it interesting, multiple family trees. There's so much you can add to your family history and pass on to next generations. If just one or two people along the way just go ahead and invest their time and reduce, and I can't say you're done because the websites such as Ancestry, family Search, they are continually, minute by minute, adding new information and so even if you went three months ago, you can go back to the same website and do the same search and there may be additional information on there.
Speaker 2:
That's a great point. I mean there's people constantly entering into that. I mean it's just a giant database of information. So if I did it, you know, on January 1st, and then multiple people from somewhere along my tree backwards or forwards enter some information and it kind of springs a new branch, if you will, that's true.
Speaker 3:
Sounds like you've been on there.
Speaker 2:
Well, you know, when I moved to Florida originally years ago my folks were sick so I won as a gift to them one year I went and did all this research and all this family tree stuff and tried to figure out where everybody kind of fell and some of the cousins and cousins, cousins and things like that, my family tree. You know my family story. My dad was born in 1943. And he really never met his dad. His dad died in World War Two so he had a whole, whole branch, you know, whole tree trunk worth of relatives that he had really never met because my grandmother had gotten remarried. So part of one of the gifts I gave to him at that point was kind of helping him to explore who might be out there that he could try to connect with. But by the time we did it, by the time the technology was so good he was already into his, you know, late 60s, early 70s, and he wasn't really ready to drive all over the country to search down family members or have a big family reunion, family members or have a big family reunion.
Speaker 2:
But it is super interesting stuff just to see pinpoint where people come from and you know like what parts of the globe. They're Eastern European, western European, et cetera, and one of the things I find interesting about it is looking at people who came from we'll call the old world, from Europe or wherever they were, and how they seem to migrate and settle into similar geographical areas in this country when they came here. So I'm reading a whole book about a group from like Scotland, northern England, northern Ireland, who the terrain that they lived in England, in Europe. When they came to the United States they found the same type of terrain to settle in. It's because what they knew how to do they were herders, they weren't farmers. So it's just really cool to see how we migrate into areas that fit us and fit our family, our genealogy, which is super, super cool. So no other hobbies, you don't skydive, you don't bungee jump, you don't do any of that stuff.
Speaker 2:
None of that stuff you don't drive a Harley on the weekends, none of that stuff, huh yeah.
Speaker 1:
All right.
Speaker 2:
Well, we'll move on from that. Let me ask you this question and one of the things I always like to ask successful people because it's a good lesson for people who might be going through something is what it. Has there been a time in your life where you've experienced a hardship or a challenge where you said, you know what, I don't know if I'm going to get to the other side of this. What did you do? How did you get through it, to get to where you are today and helping people?
Speaker 3:
get to where you are today in helping people. Well, let me say that I believe I've been quite blessed. However, when I look at my employment history, I would say it was probably at the time I did the switch from the social work to the legal. They're both can be grant driven, but particularly the social work because you're working with populations perhaps that are marginalized and the funding isn't necessarily there for them. So, having lost a position without work, married just a few years, started our family already you know now what and I found it was a good time to go back to school back then. So I'm talking, you know talking quite a while ago, but I went back to school. That's when I went to law school and I would say that forever changed my course is switching professions.
Speaker 2:
You know it is a great lesson and I'm assuming you did it fairly young. You've been doing this a long time, but it's really never too late if you want to take that change. The hard part is when, again, for me it was a little different. It was a little later in life and I was already making an OK income and I wasn't brave enough to be able to say you know what I don't like, what I do, even though I make some OK money, to be able to go. You know what? I'm just going to go, do something else and take the chance.
Speaker 2:
I needed some divine intervention. I needed the real estate market to crash in 2008, 9, and 10 for, like God or whoever you think it is, to kind of push me and say you need to do something else and get out of this. And I'll tell you in those darkest times in our lives when you think, man, how am I going to get to this, how am I going to get past this? How am I going to get through it, when you do, it makes it so much sweeter. It has to be gratifying for you to go. Hey, I was down this one road and I could have helped people in this way, but I was brave enough to make the change, to go, and now I can help people in a totally different way and expand your giving efforts Exactly. So let me ask you this I mean, you said you were married and you had kids when you made this change. Is your husband like a saint, like, or does he? Was he holding down the fort this whole time? I mean, he deserves a little bit of credit here now.
Speaker 3:
For sure, For sure. This summer it'll be 44 years. Thank you.
Speaker 2:
Are you doing anything special for the anniversary?
Speaker 3:
Not at this moment, but we do things together. We both enjoy gardening, he does some farming, he loves fishing, you know things of that nature. So early on we identified what do we have in common that we like to spend our you know, leisure time doing, and that's been a big help.
Speaker 2:
And what type of work does he do? He's a dentist, so a dentist and an attorney, you guys aren't kidding around. I mean, are your children, do they kind of go into that same line of stuff, or are they like actors and musicians?
Speaker 3:
No, I was told early on that, especially my oldest son. He said he doesn't want to do anything near what his parents do. And my second oldest said he doesn't even want the furniture in his house to look like. You know the furniture he grew up looking at all the time.
Speaker 2:
All right, Well, they have their own unique style and personality. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Yeah, you know, it's funny. My dad had a lot of one-off, you know, like Tom-isms we'd call them, but you know one of the ones, and he didn't originate it. It comes from somebody much smarter than him or I. But if you do something you love, you never work a day in your life. I mean, that is the old adage. If you enjoy what you're doing and you have a giving spirit and a giving heart, like you do, your work has to be gratifying. You have to enjoy it, Even though you're watching people go through some difficult stuff. It has to feel really good. So let me ask you this If I am a person that is in need of your services, what is the best way? Like I need you today, I'm listening to this and I'm going, I'm getting audited or whatever the case may be. How do we get to you?
Speaker 3:
I tell you what we see generational differences. So the folks more my generation would call 1-800-625-2257. Or, if you have a hearing impairment, if you'd like me to share that number, 1-800-955-8771. So it's the phone call With the younger generation. They may go to our website, which is wwwvals stands for Bay Area Legal Services org. And there's plenty of information about the wealth of substantive areas in which we provide legal services.
Speaker 2:
So someone could go there to BALSorg and do their research before they reach out and contact you.
Speaker 3:
Correct, and we have application by phone. We have application online 24-7 on the website. You can actually apply online and, you know, depending on the need, there might be more than one way to access the services. For example, housing is really a challenge in the Tampa Bay area right now, a lot of people experiencing problems with housing, and so you know we work to seek funding for legal issues that are problematic with our community, with the communities we serve, so we can meet the needs.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so let me just take a sidestep here before we wrap this up on that. When you say housing, is it people where they're being put out of their home because their rent is escalating, that type of thing.
Speaker 3:
There is a lot of that. Families living in vehicles. We have multi-generational families, which wasn't quite as common in this country. We're seeing more of that now. We're seeing parents not available to take care of their children. Within the last few months, I've met two great grandparents raising preschool kids. You know families are really impacted by you, know what's going on, and so we're here to help in the capacities that we can.
Speaker 2:
So what we will do when we put this out for people to see and for people to hear, we will include all that information, the number for the hearing impaired, the website, all that stuff, any social media stuff that you have that we can use. We will include all of that. But, folks, if you're listening to this and you are in a position where you just don't know where to turn and you say I need some guidance from an attorney, bay Area Legal is here to help provide that for you. Through the qualification process, you, through the qualification process, you can always go to BALSorg, do some research, fill out an application, get the process started, see if you meet the requirements, or if you're old school and you want to just call and speak to somebody, 800-625-2257. Gail Pinkston, thank you so much for being a good neighbor. Thank you for being on the Good Neighbor Podcast. You have an amazing day.
Speaker 3:
Thank you, you as well.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPPassCocom. That's GNPPassCocom, or call 813-922-3610.