President's Corner

by Robert B. Young, Esquire

First, thanks to Jeff for his very kind article in the last edition. As my grandmother used to say: it lost nothing in the telling. But it was a total surprise, for which I am completely grateful.

Now, some of you may have noticed in last month’s President’s Corner, one of the two concerns I’m stressing this year is the public perception of our profession. The temptation is to assume that’s a quixotic venture – and maybe it is. But we do a great deal for our society and, having spoken with some members of the media, I believe that news of significant good effort will be circulated.

Of course, we must perform those significant efforts.

The first, and most critical, is to provide for legal services to people unable to afford it, but in desperate need of service.

That is a goal. Is it reachable? I don’t think that’s a legitimate question. We have to do everything we can on the assumption (fanciful or not) that we can. And the reason is that no alternative exists in a society where legal rights are paramount, and we are privileged to be able to spend a life providing legal services.

We, as a profession, do a great deal. We, as practitioners, routinely provide legal services for specific individuals and specific charitable organizations. That activity should be pursued, of course, and is under the control and choosing of each of us.

There are many, many more services that need to be provided for. Certainly not all, but daunting quantities of needs exist in Family Court situations. These involve people in terrible crises. As Charlie McDowell described in an article last spring, Delaware has put into motion – and is the first state, as is our wont, to do so – a Pro Bono Inn of Court. Through that Inn, lawyers who hardly know where the Family Court is (corporate lawyers, tort lawyers, real estate lawyers, even non-Delaware in-house counsel lawyers) will be able to learn what is needed, and how to provide services we don’t now even understand. That is an endeavor in which the media has already taken an interest.

We have DVLS, which screens clients to match them with lawyers who can provide help and to provide training and malpractice coverage to those lawyers so engaged.

We have the Office of the Child Advocate, statutorily charged with overseeing Delaware’s Child Welfare system, requiring services to protect against abuse and extreme neglect.

We have CLASI and LSCD, organizations with staff attorneys to handle cases where a volunteer is not available, or the immediacy is too great, or the practice area is too specialized.

Those organizations require funding, as well as volunteer help. From time to time, you will hear from each organization for different ways you can help by volunteering.

Today, though, I want to look only at the financing of these terrific, and very overworked, organizations we’ve established. For years, our escrow funds, which collected interest belonging, really, to no one, assigned that interest into IOLTA. Because interest rates were better (i.e.: existed), the income generated provided pretty well for those operations. That is no longer the case. So, we have to produce money.

In many states, the legislature provides those funds. That had never been the case in Delaware. Last year, our legislature was requested to provide help. That was done as a one-time grant of $500,000.00. That represents just about 1/3 of the minimum need. Our Supreme Court this year has committed to a like amount from the Pro Hac Vice account. That is also a one-time provision. As you know, the Courts have tremendous expenses of their own – including, just as an example, court-appointed counsel requirements, which grow every year. Further, the legislature tends to look at total dollars and at the “Article IV needs” as a fixed allotment.

Nevertheless, there are areas we have pursued, and we’ll continue to pursue. Additionally, the Supreme Court has established a committee, which has worked, and is still working, diligently at pursuing many “outside the box” answers for support.

But we come to the area of funding which can do so much, and is so painless, that we need to rally to it enthusiastically. That is the Combined Campaign for Justice. This is a fund- raising drive that was established to fund all of the organizations previously mentioned. Each formerly campaigned on its own. Lawyers, with some justification, felt they were getting “hit up” all the time. Well, we’re not any more. This is an annual drive. Initial solicitation letters went out in the late spring. In November, volunteer lawyers and paralegals will make follow-up phone solicitations to those who haven’t responded. How nice it would be if none was required!

Please realize how little is needed from each if everyone contributes to this vital need to provide critical legal services to indigent people. We have about 3,500 lawyers in Delaware – for the sake of easy arithmetic, let’s say 3,000. A donation of $500.00 each would accomplish that necessary $1,500,000.00 to fund our agencies. That is $10.00 a week!

For $10.00 a week – or one “get it off my mind” payment of $500.00 – from each of us, we can proclaim to the public that we are dedicated to doing what is needed, and what is right. More importantly, we can see that people in need obtain the legal services which we, quite correctly, consider vital to the continuation of our society.

The actual goal is for every lawyer to provide an amount equal to one billable hour per week (and if that’s net, after taxes, fine; and if you’re salaried, I’m sure you can divide your take home by your hours worked). If that were done, we’d have ten times what we need. That should happen. It won’t. But if everyone of us agreed to somewhere between that and $10.00 a week, we would accomplish what is necessary.

So, answer the letter or the phone. Support these essentially constitutionally guaranteed services. Be a part of showing how our profession is praiseworthy.

---

Rob is a partner with Young and Young and he can be reached at (302) 674-8822 or ryoung@youngandyounglaw.com

Return to September 2004 Table of Contents.