This Time Lawyers Saw Need, Gave Aid : * County Bar Needs to Stick to Its Pro Bono Guidelines

There’s a longstanding tradition in the legal community for lawyers to contribute free services to the poor, a practice that hasn’t fully taken hold in Orange County. Recently, however, a group of lawyers from several high-powered law firms eschewed their normal fees to represent--for free--22 homeless people in an important case in Santa Ana. One of the homeless men was so grateful that he said he felt “blessed.” But the hearing has also proven to be a much-needed galvanizing influence for recent efforts to expand pro bono work in Orange County. Other lawyers and law firms should follow the example.

The defense of the homeless people, organized by the Poverty Law Center of Orange County, shows what can be accomplished when the bar gets involved in defending the indigent. Lawyers responded to the call for help when it was explained that people had been arrested in sweeps clearly aimed at getting the homeless out of the Santa Ana Civic Center. The lawyers dubbed the incident “Littergate” because most of their clients were cited for minor infractions such as littering. Had the meter been running, legal costs would top $30,000 each day of the court hearing, which has lasted for six days.

Justin Clouser, executive director of the law center, said he had no trouble getting volunteers when he made a call to arms to defend these homeless. But the Orange County Bar Assn. in the past has a lackluster record of pro bono work. There probably are 8,000 explanations for this--as many as there are lawyers in the county. Among the most repeated are that the legal community lacks cohesion, and that the fast-growing bar has not “matured.” Also likely is that lawyers, like others in Orange County, have suffered from the common misconception that there hasn’t been much of an indigent community in this area.

There’s another problem that stems partly from Orange County being a relatively small legal community where there are many business and civic ties. For example, while it is a slightly different issue and occurred several years ago, lawyers litigating a public interest lawsuit involving one city’s housing policy were warned off the action by a local developer. Even in the current homeless case, one of the law firms whose lawyers are representing defendants was told by Santa Ana City Atty. Edward J. Cooper that he wouldn’t cooperate with a request for assistance on another case. According to Cooper, he said he wouldn’t “assist any law firm that was taking an action against the city of Santa Ana.” The firm’s lawyers stayed on the case, but without listing their firm affiliation.

Whether it’s “Littergate,” a public interest lawsuit or one-on-one advice to someone too poor to hire a lawyer, pro bono work is important. Recognizing this, the bar association last year adopted a policy recommending that lawyers contribute 35 hours per year, and law firms the equivalent for each of their lawyers. Significantly, it also recommends that pro bono work be counted toward billable hours so that lawyers aren’t penalized by their firms for work they do for free. This same policy has been in operation in the Los Angeles Bar Assn. for nearly two years and has resulted a substantial increase in pro bono hours.

The same can happen in Orange County, where the bar association and the Poverty Law Center are now working to engage more lawyers in representing the poor. A few law firms--notably Morrison & Foerster--have led the way, and pro bono work is on the rise. The Poverty Law Center now has about 400 lawyers signed up to help. That’s a good start, but more are needed.