Contributions of Public Spirited Lawyers By William G. Paul President, American Bar Association, 1999-2000 It’s no secret that lawyers routinely take a bashing in the court of public opinion. But what most people might not know is that lawyers belong to one of the few professions committed to performing public service. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of lawyers nationally, millions of Americans receive desperately needed legal services for free. As we celebrate Law Day this year, I am proud to report that America’s lawyers are in the forefront of community service, with activities that justify enormous pride in our profession. Let me give three examples. Serving the Rural Poor. The many and well-chronicled problems of the urban poor shouldn’t blind us to the desperate conditions of the many poor people living in rural areas. Legal services in rural areas are stretched thin by extreme geographic isolation, lack of transportation and limited communication networks. The low number of available lawyers in these areas imposes severe limits on the effectiveness of rural pro bono programs. To meet the needs of low-income people in rural areas, the American Bar Association Center for Pro Bono has established the Rural Pro Bono Delivery Initiative. We’re tackling the problems through: Innovative use of communication technology, including web sites and email for referrals and assignment of lawyers, and video teleconferencing for intake and advice activities between rural clients and lawyers Use of video teleconferencing equipment to allow a lawyer, client or judge to participate in judicial or administrative hearings Linking urban pro bono (volunteer) lawyers and rural clients for instruction with pro se ("do-it-yourself") materials via telephone and fax Use of telephone hotlines staffed by urban pro bono lawyers to provide counsel and advice. These initiatives supplement the individual pro bono activities of lawyers in private practice in rural areas, where pro bono service is a daily occurrence. Serving Children’s Special Needs. The Children’s SSI Project showed the power of the nation’s lawyers as a major force for good. They put their muscle behind a national effort to assure that children with disabilities were not dropped from the Supplemental Security Income program without legal safeguards. The initial attempt in 1997 to drop the children, under extreme eligibility rules and a very unfair review process, was altered after vociferous protests by the ABA. The ABA and lawyers working on SSI projects in each state worked to see that the Social Security Administration helped clients understand the appeals process and made the names of pro bono lawyers available. Finally, the Social Security Administration reopened many, many cases, and provided families with toll-free numbers to secure free legal assistance for their appeals. Providing Pro Bono for Immigrants. Because of the 1996 immigration reform law, immigrants are routinely denied a day in court, they have laws applied to them retroactively, and they are detained indefinitely, with no possibility of relief, often for minor offenses committed decades ago. Judicial review has been all but eliminated. The 60,000-member ABA Section of Litigation has just called on its membership and the nation’s lawyers to step forward to provide pro bono services to the thousands of indigent immigrants needing legal assistance. As H. Thomas Wells Jr., chair of the Litigation Section, said so well, “Everyone on U.S. soil should have access to justice." Members of the legal profession routinely generously give their time to help those less able to help themselves. It is in the tradition of our profession and it is critical to the preservation of a free society. It is a part of my vision for our profession that our core values never change, because they set us apart as a profession and are critical to the preservation of a free society. Activities like this contribute to another part of that vision, that the American legal profession be valued, respected, and revered by the American people, as it ought to be, because there is a nobility of purpose about the profession and the work that it does. The volunteerism of lawyers makes our people and our country stronger. We make the promise of the Constitution real. Americans should be proud of a profession that helps safeguard the rights that generations fought and died for. Not just on Law Day, but every day. Speech Ideas/Talking Points Home | Tips on Volunteering Home