SC Bar recognizes Kieley Sutton for Raising the Bar
August 30, 2022
The SC Bar recognizes Kieley Sutton for her efforts as co-founder of the Rainy Day Fund, a nonprofit based in Columbia serving citizens who are involved in the legal-system and in need.
An assistant public defender and homeless court attorney with the Richland County Public Defender’s Office, Sutton has experienced firsthand the financial frustrations people faced while they were involved in the legal system.
Sutton worked with her mom and co-founder Leanne Sutton to form a board of passionate public interest lawyers and social workers to eliminate as many financial barriers to success as possible so that citizens are more likely to escape the cycle of incarceration and housing instability that is associated with poverty.
“We saw throughout our practice that there were so many times when decisions had to be based on finances or that the next opportunity was not attainable because of a financial barrier that wasn’t covered by other service providers or grants,” said Sutton. “Our office has so many caring attorneys who were trying to just help where they could so we tried to produce an organization that would be able to help fund some of those things.”
The non-profit organization, which is also a SC Bar Foundation grantee, has assisted citizens in paying for Uber rides to court, paperwork fees, birth certificate and identity documents, housing, driver’s license reinstatement fees, hygiene products and more. Other South Carolina attorneys serving on the organization’s board include Maisie Osteen, Morgan Drapeau, Lindsay Adler, Emily Blackshire, Destinee Wilson and Haley Hubbard. The Rainy Day Fund also plans to support a hygiene cabinet at the Richland County Public Library on Main Street in Columbia.
Learn more and contribute at https://rainydayfundsc.org.
The South Carolina Bar
The South Carolina Bar is a statewide organization dedicated to improving the legal profession, the law, and the administration of justice for all South Carolinians. It serves more than 17,000 lawyer members and provides resources to educators and citizens of the Palmetto State. Learn more at www.scbar.org
