Spotlight on pro bono

ISBA members are a diverse group. Some of you have been practicing law for more than 50 years, while others are ordering frames for the crisp, new licenses that will hang on office walls as soon as you find jobs.

Some of you know absolutely everything about the one area in which you concentrate, and others know enough to get by in any legal issue that may come up for your general practice clients.

Some of you are wealthy. Some of you are really struggling. Some of you enjoy your work, while others are buying book after book, trying to figure out what else you could be doing with your law degree.

Whatever our differences, we have this rather remarkable thing in common: We are lawyers. We are members of an exclusive club. With that membership, we are given opportunities that other people do not get.

And with that membership, we accept responsibility to do public service that other people cannot do.

Of course we should feed the hungry and build houses for the homeless. We should coach park district kids and shovel sidewalks for our elderly neighbors. We should give blood to those who need it. We should serve on school boards and pick up litter.

Helping people is usually rewarding, often fun, and always the right thing to do. But we don't need law degrees to provide those services to our community.

Legal services are different. We are told in the preamble to the Rules of Professional Conduct that it is our responsibility as licensed officers of the court to use our training, our experience and our skills to provide services in the public interest for which compensation may not be available.

Everyone can do community service, but we are the only ones who can go to court. That is why it is up to us to make sure that legal services are available to everyone, including those who cannot afford to hire lawyers.

Each of us can decide how much time or money we are able to contribute towards providing access to legal services. As a matter of professional responsibility, each of us has a duty to do something.

For my first 10 years as an attorney, I had no trouble finding room in my day to fulfill that duty, because my full-time job was providing legal services to the poor.

As an attorney in the private sector now, I intended to write an article to describe my experiences with pro bono work since joining a law firm. I expected that it would come naturally for me, and I intended to remind all of you that you have this responsibility.

Here is what I can report so far about working in private practice: Finding time in the day to schedule deliberate, pro bono service is harder than I thought it would be.

If we let ourselves wait for the timing to be just right before taking on pro bono matters, I suspect that we would never find the time to do it. We have to make it a priority. We have to make time for it, as we do for the other responsibilities in our lives.

Since there is little to report about my recent pro bono efforts, I have focused on the reminder. No matter how long you have been licensed, you have a continuing duty to help make legal services accessible to everyone.

Though I never thought I would be saying this, I am going to need occasional reminders about our duty, too.

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The Illinois State Bar Association is participating in a collaborative effort to provide legal assistance for domestic violence victims previously served by the Sojourn House, a Central Illinois shelter based in Springfield.

Sojourn House earlier this year lost a grant and the attorney the funds supported, leaving unrepresented victims in Christian, Logan, Menard, Montgomery and Sangamon Counties.

The ISBA is partnering with the Sangamon County Bar Association, Central Illinois Women's Bar Association and Government Bar Association to help the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation create a pro bono operation to meet the present need.

Volunteers should call Sojourn at (217) 726-5100 and select assignments that are appropriate for one's area of the law and available time.

Among the assignments is covering the emergency order of protection call that occurs from 9 to 11 a.m. each Friday in each county.

Others involve handling plenary order of protection hearings or contested custody cases, meeting and advising clients at the shelter, and participating in a forum at the Lincoln Library.

A training seminar was conducted recently by the Central Illinois Women's Bar, and others may be planned.

The e-mail for assistance to Sojourn was signed by Appellate Justices Sue E. Myerscough and Thomas R. Appleton, 7th Circuit Judges Patrick W. Kelley and Steven H. Nardulli, 8th Circuit Judge M. Carol Pope, and 4th Circuit Judges John P. Coady and Ronald D. Spears.

The pro bono committee includes ISBA Assembly member Jennifer M. Ascher, CIWBA President Raylene DeWitte Grichow, Donald J. Hanrahan of the Committee on Delivery of Legal Services, and ISBA first assistant counsel Melinda J. Bentley.