A Timely Pro Bono Reminder

By SCOTT WYLIE

At its June meeting, the Board of Governors approved several minor revisions to the State Bar's existing pro bono policy and reaffirmed its commitment to serving the legal needs of the poor in California.

This vote followed a year-long effort by the bar's Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services to study and revise the policy. As approved, the policy retains the State Bar's aspirational goal encouraging all attorneys to provide no less than 50 hours of pro bono service each year to the indigent and to charitable organizations.

It now also includes encouragement for members of the bar to aid pro bono efforts through financial support. In total, only a few sentences of the existing resolution were changed, but the importance of the bar reinvesting in pro bono service cannot be underestimated.

The struggles of the profession to maintain its long history of service to the community, while dealing with mounting business pressures, have been well documented in recent years. Large firm attorneys, especially newer associates, have faced time demands that make pro bono service seem virtually impossible; small firm and solo practitioners have faced financial limitations which make taking anything but a paying case economically impractical at times. Unfortunately, demand for legal services continues to grow. In fact, in many courts throughout California, as many as 50 to 75 percent of litigants now go without legal assistance. Fund-raising for existing legal service providers has been made more difficult by reduced IOLTA funds, a tough economy, and a diversion of charitable dollars following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th. It would seem easy to be pessimistic in the face of these and other challenges, but that would be self-defeating for the profession.

There is reason for optimism. Under the leadership of Chief Justice Ronald George, the courts of our state have radically rethought access to justice in the past five years. The courts have experimented with new ways of doing business, developed pro per assistance projects like the Family Court Facilitator program, and have partnered with legal services programs to make the courts more consumer-friendly. While economic realities will always result in disparities in the justice system, it is completely appropriate to assume that all cases should be decided on their merits and that is the goal driving the court's efforts to provide access regardless of ability to hire counsel.

For the profession, we also face a time of renewed opportunity. The State Bar has emerged from the veto crisis of the late '90s a stronger and more focused organization, sponsoring its first pro bono conference in nearly five years. The successful Pathways to Justice Conference brought more than 300 California attorneys together for the sole purpose of considering ways to improve access to legal services for the poor and middle class.

Working in partnership with the courts, the bar is looking at ways to curb the unauthorized practice of law which each year victimizes thousands of Californians seeking low cost legal help. The State's Access to Justice Commission's Committee on Unbundled Legal Services continues to educate members of the bar on ways to increase their practice through appropriate limited scope representation. Technology advances, such as the Interactive Community Assistance Network (or ICAN!) project of the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, point to dramatically increased productivity for legal services providers. Even in tough times, the legal profession is finding ways to increase access to justice.

Despite these exciting developments, we still haven't been replaced. It remains a truth that a client represented by counsel almost always fares better than one without counsel. Technology and self-help programs can help some and allow for greater efficiencies in the system, but lawyers will always be a necessary part of the access to justice solution.

As the scandals plaguing the accounting and business communities attest, we stray from the ethical traditions of the profession at our own risk.

That is why recommitment to our profession's aspirational goal of pro bono service is so important, and why those of us who are able should give of both our time and money. It is a reality that not all attorneys can, or are, willing to assist in these efforts - that should not stop those of us who are able to do so.

Scott Wylie is Associate Dean for External Affairs & John FitzRandolph Director of Clinics at Whittier Law School. He is a vice president of the Board of Governors representing Orange County.