End Of Pro Bono Week Long Live Pro Bono Attorneys
I'm writing this as someone who has yet to pass the California bar after 2 attempts and, in spite of that, and in addition to my "day job", manages to find ways to use my legal education to advance social movements. I'm also writing this as someone who is close to many pro bono lawyers who never cease to inspire and educate me. Pro bono is hard. I have a friend who recently opened a community law office and given the CA market for attorneys, is really worried about her office's viability. My criminal defense attorney (I was arrested during a political protest) is representing me pro bono because she's a movement attorney who has the experience, leeway, and believes the financial sacrifice is ultimately worth it (it helps that she was also one of my teachers in law school). No one is going to rush to these folks and give them bags of money for the pro bono work they do. Hell, even some of the folks who benefit from pro bono work sometimes forget to say thank you! But that kind of underscores the nature of pro bono work: it's done to fill a need and, given the destruction of the safety net, the complexity of modern society, the absence of civil gideon (right to counsel), more pro bono attorneys are needed. But who are these people? They don't have to be activists, they just have to have a desire to somehow, often in seemingly insignificant ways, right a wrong or prevent a tragedy from destroying a family and/or community. I'd love it if there were more lawyer activists but I'd settle for lawyers who seek out smaller, maybe non-LSC restriction bound, legal services organizations. I'd love to see tenants going into eviction proceedings come out with smiles on their faces. I'd love to see lawyers attempting to remove the tension and drama from family law matters within poor and asset depleted communities. I'd love to see protesters know that an attorney will follow them from site of their action and be waiting for them...and willing to let the protesters determine what extent of legal support they will need. But, maybe we don't really need pro bono lawyers per se. Maybe we need lawyers with a higher social consciousness who are willing to make material sacrifices for the greater good, for the sake of fairness. These lawyers will not see pro bono as pro bono: they'll see it as part of their lives. Finally, maybe pro bono week is an opportunity to celebrate those who have followed the dictates of their conscience and have volunteered in a pro bono framework/program. But maybe it's also an opportunity to re-examine this profession and realize that our training has provided us tools which can change the world...and that maybe, just maybe, real change is not something that can be commodified...it, like pro bono legal services, is like the air we breathe, gratis.
