More Hard Times for the Legal Community

In addition to law firm layoffs, the legal services community and law schools are getting pinched by the economy. 

According to Above the Law, Temple University Beasley School of Law is cutting its budget by approximately 2% for the current academic year because Temple’s overall budget will be cut by 4%.  The post also indicates that private law schools are going to have to make even more drastic cuts, ultimately leading to less financial aid for students, which will make it harder for those from middle class and low income backgrounds to attend law school.

According to the New York Times, legal services agencies are being forced to cut their budgets as the interest rates drop and donors are not able to give as much money.  As requests for services have risen approximately 30%, the NYT article estimates that many agencies will have to cut 20% or more of their staff. 

Locally, I have heard that IOLTA donations to legal services organizations are down from what they were a  year ago.  Please remember our local legal services organizations when considering making donations this year.

A New Year’s Resolution: You were there for us. For this I am grateful.

As we start a new year, I encourage you to include taking a pro bono case on your list of resolutions for 2009.  We are all struggling in these uncertain economic times, but those even less fortunate than us are struggling on a level that most of us are unable to imagine.

I specificially encourage you to consider taking a family law case from Philadelphia VIP, an agency that matches low income Philadelphians with much needed volunteer attorneys who provide civil legal representation to those who would otherwise go unrepresented.  I received the following letter from a couple of hard working VIP paralegals and was compelled to share it with you:

 

 

Dear Abbie,

 

Over the last year, Philadelphia VIP has received an increased number of requests for pro bono representation with the greatest number of cases in the area of family law. 

Every time we read through the file of a new family law case, we are moved by the client’s compelling story.  After all, a client’s divorce, custody, support, adoption or guardianship matter affects the most personal aspect of his or her life.  Taking such a case on a pro bono basis will certainly make a positive difference in any volunteer attorney’s life as well. 

According to Matthew Olesh, a litigation associate at Dechert LLP and a first-year volunteer with VIP who has already helped 4 clients with family law matters, “we always work as hard as we can for our clients, and it is especially rewarding to help someone who truly needs and deserves legal assistance.”  When opposing counsel challenged a VIP client’s attempts to visit her child who was living almost two hours outside of Philadelphia in a remote area of the state that was inaccessible by public transportation, Olesh helped the client obtain physical custody of her child.  Olesh noted, ”from the first time I met my client, I could tell that she had nothing but the purest intentions in wanting to be reunited with her child.  Not only was she genuinely upset at being cut off from all contact, but she was legitimately concerned for the child’s well-being.” Through Olesh’s dedication to the case, the client’s year long struggle to see her child was rejuvenated and ultimately validated.  At the conclusion of the case, Olesh’s client noted, “I consider myself very fortunate and appreciate everything that VIP and my attorney did for my family and me.  You were there for us.  For this I am grateful.” 

Unfortunately, even though there are many dedicated attorneys who represent family law clients diligently and consistently, there are not enough volunteers to meet the demand of VIP’s case load – in 2008, VIP was forced to turn away over 50% of Philadelphians who sought representation on family law matters.

Many attorneys have told us that they feel uncomfortable accepting family law cases through VIP because they have no prior experience in family law.  If you are not a family law practitioner, there are several reasons why you are still an ideal fit to represent a pro bono client in the area of family law, including:

 

• VIP provides a group of experienced family law practitioners who mentor volunteer attorneys new to family law representation; 
• VIP provides an online library of training materials, which volunteers can access from their own desks;
• volunteers gain invaluable client counseling, negotiation and trial advocacy skills;
• volunteers can help counsel clients to make good legal decisions and single-handedly afford give clients a much needed voice in an otherwise intimidating legal process; and
• volunteers will find the benefits of their representation reciprocal. 

 

VIP is offering substantive preparation for family law cases to all interested volunteer attorneys through a CLE on custody scheduled for February 13th and a CLE on divorce scheduled for April 3rd.  The CLE credits are free in exchange for pro bono services.

 

To become a Philadelphia VIP volunteer or to learn more about upcoming trainings, visit the Philadelphia VIP website or call 215-523-9550.  We hope to hear from you soon!

 

 

Janine LaBletta & Dana Barnett

                 Philadelphia VIP Paralegals

 

Please consider using your legal prowess to help a fellow Philadelphian deal with a family law matter this year.  You will be amazed at your ability to impact a local family.

Taking the Reins

I attended an intriguing workshop at the Equal Justice Conference in Philadelphia last March. The session took place during a gap in programs that I had to attend for work and happened to be on the 33rd floor of the Loews Hotel – which has one of the best views of Philadelphia in my opinion – so I made my way up to the packed room and sat in on The Legal Services Movement: Keeping the Flame Burning Beyond the Boomer Generation.

At the workshop I learned that over seventy-five percent of federally funded legal aid programs have executive directors with over twenty years of director experience. Many of these directors have argued the high impact cases that we learned about in law school; in some cases, when the directors were only a few years out of law school temselves.

The workshop focused on how legal services organizations can successfully transfer the knowledge and experience of these seasoned leaders to the younger generation. The panel concentrated on how to retain attorneys with more than 5 years of legal services experience to decrease the current gap that exists between attorneys with over 20 years of experience and those with less than 5 years of experience. The panel focused on reducing student loan debt, while the attendees concentrated on the idea that more seasoned attorneys need to permit and guide (or at least stop automatically and immediately dismissing) younger attorneys when they bring up novel law suits and to stop taking the attitude that “that’s not how we do things around here.”

Do you think young attorneys – in legal services, government or private practice – will be able to sufficiently take the reins in the future when older attorneys, who have been in their positions for longer than some young attornesy have been alive, finally step aside? Are we already doing so? What can more seasoned attorneys do to assist this transition?

The view from Loews.