The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland celebrates its volunteers all year long, and is making a special push for awareness about its volunteer program during National Volunteer Week, which runs from April 21-28 this year.

One way Legal Aid relies on thousands of volunteers each year to meet the civil legal needs of people across Northeast Ohio, alongside its full-time staff, is through their many Brief Advice Clinics.

"We address civil legal needs, so it could range from getting advice on an eviction to a divorce to small claims issues, all sorts of things," supervising attorney Julie Reed explained. "As long as they're within the Civil legal realm."

At the clinics, volunteers like attorney Suzanne Bretz Blum — who helps advise Legal Aid's Volunteer Lawyers Program — help support the full-time staff of more than 130 people.

"There have been over 3,000 lawyers involved in volunteering with Legal Aid over the past five years or so," Blum said.

Many of those attorneys show up early on Saturday mornings to give free counsel at Legal Aid;s Brief Advice Clinics, which happen almost every weekend across Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, and Lorain counties. Volunteers also include people who haven't taken the bar exam, like administrative assistant Aliah Lawson.

"People who aren't attorneys are very important at Brief Advice Clinics to make sure that the client needs are being serviced and that they are getting the advice they need to move forward," Lawson told 3News.

Stephanie Haney has more.