What
is TALA?
Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit
organization that provides pro bono legal and accounting services to
individual artists and nonprofit organizations statewide.
TALA
has been serving Texas artists since 1979. TALA handles some
cases in-house, but the majority or cases are handled by TALA volunteer
Attorneys and Accountants from across the state.
Who
does TALA serve?
TALA
assists
individual artists who are members of TALA and whose annual
income is $37,500 or less. Our clients come from
across
many artistic disciplines including the visual arts, writing, acting,
dancing, singing, musical performance, and performance art.
Nonprofit clients include museums, theater companies, arts
groups, dance troupes, libraries, environmental groups, and writers'
guilds.
How
does TALA
membership work?
In order to receive services from TALA, artists and nonprofits must become members.
Individual memberships for
artists are $50, bands are $100, and nonprofit organizations are $200.
The membership fee helps defray administrative costs.
With
a one year membership, members receive unlimited (within the scope of
the available services we provide) pro bono legal and accounting
services, a subscription to the TALA newsletter, and invitations to
TALA events.
Who
can become a
volunteer?
To
handle TALA cases,
volunteer attorneys must be licensed in the state of Texas and be in
good standing with the Bar. An accounting volunteer must be a
licensed CPA. Anyone can volunteer for special events at
TALA.
Due to legal relationships between TALA and its clients, TALA
does not use volunteers for administrative tasks within the office.
What
types of legal cases does TALA handle?
All legal cases TALA
handles must be art related. For
artists, that includes copyright, gallery agreements, contracts,
trademark issues, entertainment issues, general business advice,
bankruptcy, wills, forming a corporation, insurance, and
landlord/tenant studio disputes. For nonprofits, TALA handles
cases dealing with resolving board disputes, board liability,
dissolving nonprofit organizations, employment, creating nonprofit
organizations, and tax issues. TALA can also handle some
mediation cases for artists and nonprofits.
What is
the volunteer process?
Every
2 to 3 weeks,
an email is sent to all TALA volunteers listing the available cases.
Once you run a conflicts check, volunteers should email TALa
informing us which cases you are interested in taking. An
email
is then sent to both the client and the volunteer that confirms the
case has been taken and also informs both parties of how to contact
each other. It is the client's responsibility to make initial
contact with the volunteer, but the volunteer may make the initial
contact if they choose to do so.
What is
the expected time commitment?
The
time commitment
varies for each case, but generally, TALA cases are fairly brief in
nature. TALA does not provide ongoing representation with th
same
attorney, so once you complete the matter, you are released.
Cases not
handled by TALA:
-
Family
law
-
Criminal
Law
-
Personal
Injury
-
Litigation
How is
the case closed?
When
representation
is complete, please fill out a Volunteer Evaluation Form and return it
to TALA. This allows TALA to keep accurate records and lets
us
know what we can do to better serve you as a volunteer.
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