Lawyers Leave Court to Help the Homeless

As a bankruptcy lawyer, David Hagen usually tries to keep the ranks of the homeless from swelling.

His clients “see themselves as being one step away from the streets,” said Hagen, a Woodland Hills attorney who is also president of the San Fernando Valley Bar Assn. “They tell me, ‘I never thought I’d be at the point of sitting with a bankruptcy lawyer.’ ”

On Sunday, he and other lawyers were trying to keep the homeless from shivering as they loaded trucks, cars and vans with blankets for the 1996 Blanket the Homeless campaign. This is the second year the Valley bar association’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service has conducted the giveaway.

“A lot of what we do as lawyers is argue about money,” said Hagen. Lawyer jokes and the often unsavory image of lawyers were much talked about during the blanket distribution in the parking lot of the University of La Verne College of Law in Woodland Hills.

The blanket giveaway was begun last year by then-president of the bar association Robert Weissman, who practices construction law, and Brad Capener, director of the association’s referral service.

The program was created to help deal with the growing problem of homelessness in the Valley, Weissman said, as well as to show that lawyers don’t deserve the bad rap.

Volunteers, including lawyers and law students, distributed 2,000 blankets and 40 sleeping bags, plus hats and ponchos to 10 charitable groups who help the homeless.

The blankets can make a big difference, especially with the recent rain and cold nights, said Barbara Ausburn, director of volunteers for Loaves and Fishes, a Catholic Charities food pantry in Van Nuys.

Ausburn said her clients appreciate the supplies. “They always say, ‘God bless you.’ ”

Other groups that received help include Children of the Night, Haven Hills, the Independent Living Center, L.A. Family Housing Corp. and the Women’s Care Cottage.

Capener said the local bar group would like to present the Blanket the Homeless campaign to the American Bar Assn. as a charitable effort that could be undertaken by other groups of lawyers.

“This is really an example of what other bar associations can do,” Hagen said. “Here’s a program that works, and it can work on a much larger scale.”