How Legal Assistants Can Help in the Bar's Pro Bono Efforts
David J. Beck
President, State Bar of Texas
It is our society as a whole which bears the responsibility of providing equal access to justice for the poor. The ABA Consortium on Legal Services and the Public, in its 1994 Legal Needs Report, states that 79% of those in low income households do not obtain the services of a lawyer to handle their legal problems. That is a sad and frightening statistic. The legal needs of our poor citizens must be met, and it is therefore critical that lawyers and legal assistants volunteer their time and expertise for that purpose.
The actual pro bono policy, as defined and adopted by the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors on May 28, 1992, provides that Texas attorneys should aspire to render at least 50 hours of pro bono publico services to the poor each year. Pro bono or donated legal services include the following:
a) the direct provision of legal services to the poor, without an expectation of compensation, whether civil or criminal;
b) uncompensated services related to simplifying the legal process for, or increasing the availability and quality of legal services to, poor persons;
c) uncompensated legal services rendered to charitable, public interest organizations with respect to matters or projects designed predominantly to address the needs of poor persons;
d) uncompensated legislative, administrative or systems advocacy services provided on behalf of poor persons; or
e) unsolicited, involuntary appointed representation of indigents in criminal and civil matters...1
Can legal assistants aid in the State Barıs pro bono or donated legal services efforts? Yes, in many ways. In fact, the American Bar Association has established Model Guidelines for the Utilization of Legal Assistant Services which provide that lawyers should facilitate legal assistant participation in pro bono activities.2 Although legal assistants are not required to perform pro bono work, there are a large number of organizations in Texas that are desperate for help from people with experience in the legal process. Legal assistants are therefore uniquely suited to render assistance in the pro bono effort. However, when volunteering their time legal assistants are bound by the same ethical rules and responsibilities as when they receive compensation. For example, legal assistants cannot give legal advice and they must clearly inform clients that they are not attorneys.
In Houston alone, there are numerous opportunities for legal assistants to provide pro bono services. Some of the specific organizations affording that opportunity are the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Association, AIDS Foundation Houston, Harris County Juvenile Probation Department, and the University of Texas Health Science Center.
| Legal assistants can also assist individual attorneys with pro bono cases in the office where they are employed. Just as in a typical working situation, a legal assistant can greatly increase the efficiency of an attorney working on a pro bono matter. Furthermore, a legal assistant will likely be given more responsibility in a pro bono case. Services the legal assistant can provide under the direction of an attorney in a pro bono matter include meeting clients and gathering information about their legal problems, assisting clients in completing appropriate forms and applications, maintaining client contact and keeping the client informed of the status of his or her case. Additionally, legal assistants can seek out volunteer opportunities with organizations that serve a part of the community in which the legal assistant has a personal interest. With the legal assistantıs contacts in the legal community, the legal assistant may be able to recruit attorneys to aid in the effort as well. Legal assistants can also volunteer to do intake work at shelters for battered women and children, help to inform women of their legal options, help to prepare domestic violence protective orders, or help residents at a homeless shelter complete forms and attend hearings for social security and disability benefits. The Houston Volunteer Lawyers Association holds Will-thons during which volunteer lawyers prepare wills at no cost for those in financial need. Legal assistants are always welcome, and are encouraged to help with notarizing documents at those events.
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EDITOR'S NOTEThe American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Assistants has issued a brochure entitled ''How to Utilize Legal Assistants in Pro Bono Publico Programs.'' The goal of the publication is to promote the use of legal assistants in pro bono programs. The brochure covers such topics as the role of the legal assistant in pro bono programs, how legal assistants can become involved in such programs, supervision and recruitment of volunteer legal assistants, training, and malpractice and ethics issues. For more information or a copy of the brochure, write to Marilyn Barmash, Staff Director, Standing Committee on Legal Assistants, American Bar Association, 750 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60611 or call (312) 988-5769. |
Any volunteer work of a legal nature, which directly benefits the poor, constitutes pro bono work. Organizations providing pro bono opportunities for legal assistants typically have required training programs and also have volunteer or staff attorneys with whom legal assistants may confer and through whom legal advice will be provided to clients.
Local bar associations and other organizations providing services to the poor can provide more information about pro bono opportunities. Those organizations are always open to suggestions and ideas regarding volunteerism. Consequently, legal assistants, individually or as a group, can break new ground in terms of establishing programs in which legal assistants can provide pro bono services, and the State Bar strongly encourages legal assistants to do so.
TEXAS PARALEGAL JOURNAL
Summer 1996
©1996 Legal Assistants Division, State Bar of Texas