Lawyers Should Heed the Civic Call : Volunteer program is hurting, with more lawyers in the county than ever

The already battered image of the legal profession took another hit this week when it was revealed that the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, which offers free legal aid to the needy, has partly shut down because of a lack of civic-minded attorneys.

So how can a county with more lawyers than ever before in its history--about 8,000 at last count--come up short in this vital area? The answer appears to be the recession. Like everyone else, attorneys are finding it hard to make ends meet these days. But, unlike widget makers, the legal profession is a public trust--and with it come public responsibilities.

Indeed, this looks to be a case where local attorneys can help themselves and the needy by revitalizing this model program.

To do so merely requires that attorneys follow the advice of their own professional organizations. Both the state and county bar associations are formally on the record urging their members to do at least 50 hours of volunteer work a year.

So, if all the local members of the bar simply did the minimum service requested, they could produce the equivalent of an army of 192 full-time volunteer lawyers.

That new legal muscle would certainly be welcome, especially in the painful wake of state and local budget cuts that have fallen disproportionately on the poor.

Because of the legal community’s lack of commitment, the Volunteer Lawyers Program is now refusing to take cases involving some of the county’s most vulnerable residents--poor mothers with child support problems, the disabled having trouble securing benefits and people infected with the AIDS virus.

The program’s domestic violence prevention program remains open--but people seeking assistance now must wait months instead of weeks to get it. Carl R. Poirot, executive director of the program, says he has to place an average of 30 to 35 calls to find an attorney willing to take on these clients. Some attorneys are even asking him to remove them from cases.

The cutbacks couldn’t come at a worse time. A survey sponsored by several of the state’s top law schools found that, between 1980 and 1990, the number of poor people in California increased by 41% while legal services available to them decreased by 20%. And that doesn’t reflect the deep cuts in services to the poor contained in the new state budget.

Attorneys must understand that there is more for them in this program than charity being its own reward. Large firms in particular can benefit by requiring new attorneys to do volunteer work--and thereby gain the practical, hands-on experience seldom available to young lawyers who rarely appear in a courtroom.

Yes, times are tough for every business. And no one expects struggling law firms to close their doors and rush out to work free. But certainly some balance can be struck between the fiscal mantra of the legal profession (“billable hours, billable hours, billable hours . . . “) and the crying needs of an increasingly vulnerable sector of this community.