Image: The Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara (Karen Castillo Farfan)
“Membership in the legal profession carries with it inherent commitments to equal justice and public service.”
“The ABA makes clear that lawyers have a professional and ethical duty to make access to justice a reality for all, as the preamble to the ABA Ethical Code states, ‘A lawyer has a responsibility as a “public citizen” to act throughout their career to improve the delivery of legal services to the underrepresented.’”
“Every lawyer, regardless of professional prominence or professional workload, has a responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay, and personal involvement in the problems of the disadvantaged can be one of the most rewarding experiences in the life of a lawyer. The American Bar Association urges all lawyers to provide a minimum of 50 hours of pro bono services annually. States, however, may decide to choose a higher or lower number of hours of annual service (which may be expressed as a percentage of a lawyer's professional time) depending upon local needs and local conditions. It is recognized that in some years a lawyer may render greater or fewer hours than the annual standard specified, but during the course of his or her legal career, each lawyer should render on average per year, the number of hours set forth in this Rule. Services can be performed in civil matters or in criminal or quasi-criminal matters for which there is no government obligation to provide funds for legal representation, such as post-conviction death penalty appeal cases.”—Comment on ABA Model Rule 6.1
Santa Barbara is a year-round tourist destination (especially, it seems, for Germans!), renowned for its Mediterranean climate, downtown beaches, and Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (although it has its fair share of Victorian- and Craftsman-inspired architecture as well). It’s no surprise that we have an eatery and bar downtown named the Paradise Café, and in the mountains just above the city and before the descent into the beautiful Santa Ynez valley, there is rather modest but no less aptly named Paradise Store. A street within walking distance of us was christened by the powers-that-be, Nirvana Road (it does run uphill!). Of course the city is not always (nor everywhere) paradise: it’s plagued by periodic wildfires common to the California chaparral and woodlands terrestrial eco-region, it has a recalcitrant gang problem, and many of its workers make long commutes (including quite a few professionals), living to the north and south of us. But there is more to this dark underbelly of paradise: the fact that its most vulnerable population, namely, the poor, the working-poor, the homeless, immigrants, the elderly, and the mentally ill, for example, have little or no access to the procedural mechanisms of justice, to legal aid and services more routinely obtainable if not taken for granted by its wealthier residents. And the paucity of pro bono work by lawyers in Santa Barbara contributes to and exacerbates a failure that targets the poor and disadvantaged, as we learn in an informative, powerful, and well-written piece by Karen Pelland: “Where Have All The Lawyers Gone?”, published at Mission & State (a website designed to deliver ‘narrative journalism from the heart of Santa Barbara’):
[….] “…[T]he State Bar of California has a standing resolution that urges every licensed attorney in the state to perform 50 hours of pro bono work each year ‘to indigent individuals, or to not-for-profit organizations with a primary purpose of providing services to the poor … with a purpose of improving the law and the legal system, or increasing access to justice.’
Fifty hours may not sound like a lot, but of the 1,385 lawyers listed by the state bar who are active in Santa Barbara County, it appears from polling, interviews and anecdotes that only a small fraction do pro bono work at all, let alone 50 hours of it. And to be clear about what is meant by pro bono work, the state bar resolution suggests the ‘substantial majority’ of those 50 hours be given strictly ‘without fee or expectation of fee’ to the poor or to organizations that directly serve the needs of the poor, such as charitable, religious, educational or civic groups.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 60,193 Santa Barbara County residents live below the national poverty line (who survive on an income of $22,314 for a family of four). That’s 14.2 percent of the county population. Those living in poverty include the mentally ill, homeless, elderly, addicts, immigrants and any family simply working to keep the lights on and put food on the table. Such people can often barely afford the basic necessities in life, let alone a lawyer if and when needed. Plus, poverty increases one’s vulnerability to issues ranging from police or domestic abuse to unlawful evictions or firings.
Furthermore, within the most vulnerable communities, minor infractions frequently snowball into legal fracases. For example, without legal guidance, when a homeless person gets ticketed for camping (staying outdoors) or having an open container in public, the citation will often turn into an arrest warrant.
Recognizing that low-income Californians are being denied their basic rights ‘simply because they cannot afford a lawyer,’ in 2010 the State Bar of California launched a ‘Campaign for Justice’ to increase legal resources available to the poor. California currently ranks No. 22 nationally in legal aid funding, and the campaign’s ultimate goal is to raise $10 million to distribute among 95 legal aid organizations throughout every county in the state. The campaign’s credo is simple: California’s most vulnerable residents are facing housing crises, job losses, domestic violence, elder abuse, and obstacles to health care and education. When justice is available to those who need it, society benefits from increased family stability, safer communities, and a stronger workforce.
Richard Solomon, who started practicing law in Santa Barbara in the 1970s, says Santa Barbara is a particularly difficult place to get pro bono legal help if you need it. ‘There’s never been a culture of pro bono here… ever,’ says Solomon. Though there were more lawyers giving their time back in the more progressive days when he began practicing, Solomon says, ‘there’s always been a great reluctance.’” [….] Read the entire article here.
Rhode, Deborah L. Access to Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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