When the building that once housed Legal Services Alabama on Church Street burned down years ago, a lot of people forgot the nonprofit law firm was still in Selma.

But newly named executive director Artur Davis is hoping to change that perception by making people more aware of what LSA does and who they help.

“For a variety of reasons in the years after that, Legal Services of Alabama was not as active in this area as it needed to be. A lot of people didn’t know we were still here,” he said.

“As much as we did, [people] didn’t know we were here to do it, so a big part of our challenge right now, now that we have two vibrant, vigorous attorneys who are onboard in this office and servicing this region, we’re back to work. We’re back to helping people who need it.”

Davis, who was named executive director of LSA in December, is currently on a seven-stop tour visiting all of LSA’s offices across the state.  Davis said LSA helped 13,000 clients last year, but he said that isn’t enough because there are roughly 867,000 people across the state that are eligible for their service.

“We’re very proud of that number, and that’s a big number. It’s bigger than some counties in the Black Belt, but the reality is, we’ve only scratched the surface of the work that we can do,” Davis said. “If we want to do more than scratch the surface, we have to work with community partners.”

And that is just what they are trying to do. Wednesday, while Davis was in town the Black Belt Community Foundation played host to a meeting to help recruit partners for LSA. The BBCF’s conference room was filled with people from various organizations across Selma who are trying to make a difference in people’s lives.

“We aren’t doing enough in the Black Belt right now as an organization. We’re going to do more,” Davis said.

The Selma office is manned by two attorneys, managing attorney Laura Clemmons and staff attorney Jazmin Standford.

“We have the right lawyers in this office to do it. We’re going to continue to add to that stock in the next several years, and we’re going to be an organization that touches people and engages people in this community,” he said.

Clemmons, who has been in Selma since September, said she has been trying to get the word out about Legal Services by passing out brochures and spreading the word.

“What I did one day was just walk down the street and say I’m the new attorney from Legal Services Alabama,” Clemons said. “I went to a couple of stores down the street, and they were like, ‘You’re who?’ I just talked about Legal Services and what we do, and I said, ‘In your store I know you may not have a place for these brochures, but will you take some of them.’”

Clemons said one of their main goals right now is to get people more aware of the law firm, so people in need can get help.

“We just want to be proactive, and we want to help our clients become able to take care of themselves,” she said.