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Firm gives time to help less fortunate

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| Monday, December 20, 2004 | No comments posted

John Willard

One was an elderly single woman whose neighbor's flower garden encroached on her property, an issue she feared might block the sale of her home.

Another was a disabled man, whose theft of identity was causing him trouble with the Internal Revenue Service.

The two low-income Quad-Citians got their problems solved, thanks to the free legal help they received from Troy Howell and Diane Puthoff. The two lawyers, both associates with Lane & Waterman, represented the people as part of their firm's policy of providing free legal assistance to clients of HELP Legal Assistance and Prairie States Legal Services.

The cases are typical of those encountered by Puthoff and Howell as they perform "pro bono" work for the two agencies. The agencies handle such cases as orders of protection, utility shut-offs, housing problems, denial of veterans and welfare benefits and a wide range of other civil matters. They do not handle criminal cases.

Howell solved the flower garden dispute by first contacting his client's neighbor, who challenged his client's claims and refused to move the garden. Howell then hired a surveyor to determine property boundaries. The survey showed the neighbor's flower garden indeed encroached on his client's property. The neighbor finally agreed to remove the garden from his client's property, and the two parties split the cost of the $500 survey.

The man who had the problem with the IRS had no income other than Social Security and disability. The IRS, though, claimed he had much more income that he was declaring. Puthoff solved the problem by contacting the IRS and presenting them with his records that showed that he was spending more on basic necessities than he was earning.

The IRS agreed that her client was not the same person who owed taxes and dropped its claims. To get her client started on resolving the identity question, she provided him with identity theft hot line numbers.

Howell, 30, a native of Kankakee, Ill., graduated from the University of Illinois and earned his law degree from the University of Iowa. He is a litigator at Lane & Waterman, where he will be named a partner next month.

Working with legal aid clients, he said, helps improve the public's image of lawyers. "The public often views lawyers as untrustworthy and interested only in making a buck. The fact is the lawyers whom I know give their time freely to legal aid."

Puthoff, 28, a Davenport native, graduated from Marquette University and holds a master�s degree in business administration and a law degree from Creighton University. A tax specialist at Lane & Waterman, she enjoys donating her time to legal aid clients. "I grew up in the community, and it was good to me. I feel that I am giving back to the community that has given me so much," she said.

John Willard can be contacted at

(563) 383-2814 or jwillard@qctimes.com.