Overcoming Low Pay
by John Walsh and William Booth
Face it. You didn’t become a child law practitioner for the money. If low pay is on your mind, but you love what you do, there are some steps you can take to tame the pay problem.
Request loan forgiveness. The supervising lawyer should ensure all lawyers who qualify take advantage of loan forgiveness programs. For example, any lawyer who took out a federal Perkins loan to get through college or law school may qualify for a loan deferment program, which will minimally forgive a portion of the loan over time. Some state bars may also have loan forgiveness for lawyers who work for children.
Seek attorney’s fees. Children in foster care often are victimized by the system itself. Be aware of this and try to prevent it from happening to your clients. Understand that too many of these cases go undetected and are not prosecuted. The child=s lawyer is never told what happened to their client. The child=s lawyer needs to protect that child=s interests. The only way to do that is to know what is happening to the child while in care. Demanding discovery, including all abuse reports concerning your client, and any and all incident reports, will help you to discover these facts.
If it does happen to a client whom you represent, you have a duty to refer the child to a qualified tort lawyer to handle any potential claim. The ultimate goal of such a claim is to provide funds to pay for the child=s current and long-term care and treatment needs. The money is often placed in trust. The trustee and/or court will then control disbursements. It can be invaluable for children who are aging out of the system.
When referring such cases, ensure your office will get a referral fee. Such a fee arrangement should be spelled out in the representation contract. This can be a significant funding source for a children=s law office and therefore a source of bonuses and higher pay for staff. This funding source is controversial for those operating in a nonprofit or government office. For those who find it distasteful from a nonprofit stance, know that the referral fee comes from the attorney’s fee on the case, not the child=s share of the award. In other words, it is not an additional fee. What better place for a portion of these attorney=s fees to be directed than towards continued funding of a children=s law office?
For the government lawyer who is not comfortable referring a case for possible suit against the entity that signs your paycheck, there is little choice. You have a duty to your client to protect their claim. If you allow a statute of limitations and/or repose to run, you may face a malpractice claim or bar complaint one day. Will the government rush to your defense then?
Change your perspective. To thrive with the salary of a child=s lawyer, you need to have perspective. Look around, not just around the courthouse or your home town, but beyond your surroundings. You have a lot to be grateful for, but Madison Avenue is constantly skewing your perspective. Our planet has over six billion people. Your earnings put you in the top two percent of those six billion people. Yet you still think that you need more. A lawyer should drive a nicer car, wear better suits, have a bigger house with more gadgets and toys and earn more money. We know that these things do not breed happiness, but they sure look good to those of us who run into law school classmates who are wearing our annual salary. Realize that you=re not only in the top two percent of earnings, you also have a job where you make a difference. How many people in the top two percent can say that? Now what percentage do you think you=re in? Maybe the top one percent?
Whenever people are asked whether they need to earn more money to be content and truly live within their means, the answer is inevitably “yes”. The problem is that this seems to be true regardless of how much money a person already earns. We always want more. Don=t fall into that trap. There are simple, effective ways to manage debt, live simply and feel better. Hundreds of books have been written on the subject. Most center on self-discipline and living within your means. That’s a good place to start.
Represent private pay clients. Consider designing an office that can support itself by allowing lawyers to represent private pay clients in addition to their representation of children in the public sphere. Your private pay clients can fund, at least in part, your representation of children. This model is working in several parts of the country. It is often said at national children’s law conventions that the field is where pediatrics was 100 years ago. The critical difference is that pediatricians today no longer rely upon public funds, but rather fund themselves. If they choose to treat disadvantaged children they are free to do so. The financial freedom that their private practice provides enables them to deliver the same high quality care to paying and nonpaying clients. Why can’t children’s lawyers do the same?
Move on if you’re unhappy. If you are still convinced that you NEED more money to be happy, then maybe you belong in another field of law. We don=t mean to push people out of the children=s law field. The profession needs all the good lawyers it can get. But you=re not doing your clients or yourself any good by hanging around if you=re unhappy. So choose to be happy by changing your perspective or move on.
Adapted from “How to Thrive,
Not Just Survive, as a Children’s Lawyer,” by John Walsh and William Booth,