SIDEBAR Fall 2017 - 21

MONTGOMERYBAR.ORG

SIDEBAR FEATURE

Merck, Legal Aid & MBA
sponsor birth certificate clinic
By Michael E. Kelley, Esq., Managing Attorney, Legal Aid
of Southeastern Pennsylvania's Norristown Office

P

ennsylvania provides licensed attorneys a secret power
to solve a bureaucratic paradox that is comparable to
the eponymous Catch-22 of the 1961 novel. You need
a birth certificate to obtain identification but simultaneously need
identification to obtain a birth certificate.
People can lose documentation through fires, homelessness,
theft, or simply in a move. These pieces of paper and plastic affect
much of contemporary life. You need that identification to register
to vote. You need identification to bank. You need identification to
obtain a driver's license-and social security card-which are both
needed to properly register to work. Some parents never obtained
birth certificates for their children but now need the certificate to
properly register for school or other services.

The joint effort displayed at the clinic showed the disadvantaged
of Montgomery County that our legal community can solve many
problems.
Lawyers often need to tediously pull apart the knots and red
tape of complex legal matters. Sometimes it is nice to know you are
trusted to just cut through!
If you would like to volunteer, or have any questions about
the pro bono efforts of the MBA and LASP, please contact
mekelley@lasp.org or 610-275-5400, ext. 125 or Nancy Walsh at
nancywalsh@montgomerybar.org.

Fortunately, Pennsylvania allows licensed attorneys to request a
birth certificate on behalf of any individual. On August 10, 2017,
members of the MBA joined forces with LASP, and the Office
of General Counsel of Merck, using this power to obtain birth
certificates for nearly 100 people at a free birth certificate clinic
held at Manna on Main Street in Lansdale.
Volunteer attorneys and paralegals overcame this
aforementioned paradox for many otherwise unable to officially
prove their identity. Many of those helped were referred to the
clinic by local social services agencies who initially learned of the
event through the Interagency Council of Norristown, promoted
by our own Access to Justice Coordinator, Nancy Walsh.
At the clinic, attorneys met with participants to ensure each
person left understanding the process and steps needed to go from
birth certificate to driver's license, social security card, and voter
registration. By the end of the day, applications for birth certificates
had been prepared for 53 adults and 45 children.
Everyone deserves access to his or her vital records, whether
a grandparent raising eight children and registering them for
school, an institutionalized individual looking to sustain himself,
or someone separated from documentation after fleeing domestic
violence.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SIDEBAR Fall 2017
