Why Volunteer?
By C. Michael Zacharias

You know you should. All bar associations have programs and committees promoting pro bono service.

Because it’s the right thing to do.

You don’t really need a reason to volunteer your legal talent. Many lawyers chose careers in law because they wanted to help others. The American Bar Association has made delivery of legal services to the disadvantaged a major goal nationwide. Closer to home, the Oklahoma Bar Association has identified a project to represent those who cannot afford legal representation in the civil arena and formed the Access to Justice Committee to deal with that growing need.

All three Oklahoma law schools have programs, clinics and various forms of outreach because legal educators recognize that law students who volunteer are likely to participate in pro bono efforts throughout their careers.

But is it enough?  Clearly not, as the needs continue to outstrip the resources and the gap between the haves and the have nots continue to expand.

Legal Aid, formally known as Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma Inc., has its finger in the dike, but the waves of requests for help threaten to overwhelm the system almost daily. Currently, Legal Aid in Oklahoma has a total staff of 132 — 58 of whom are full-time lawyers.  There are 12 part-time attorneys, 16 paralegals and another 45 people in clerical and administrative positions. Last year, some 19,085 cases were closed affecting more than 19,000 children.  It doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out those lawyers have to average closing a case every single day.

Volunteers help. The statistics for 2006 indicate 270 private lawyers handled at least one pro bono case through Legal Aid and closed a total of 399 cases. More current numbers for the past 12 months reflect 283 private attorneys closed 508 cases. While Legal Aid’s Oklahoma volunteer data base contains some 2,200 lawyers, there are only about 300 actively participating statewide.

Don’t those numbers make you want to help? They should.

There are more ways to help than signing up to take a case. Continuing education materials and seminars are just as helpful for Legal Aid lawyers and volunteers as everyone else in the field. Family law, landlord/tenant issues, public housing, mental health, homelessness, senior citizens issues, HIV/AIDS assistance, Social Security and bankruptcy are just a few areas where help is needed.  You could volunteer in one of the programs where you help provide advice and direction only, in person or on the phone.

Law students and first-time pro bono lawyers need mentors.

Legal Aid is non-profit, supported by grants, gifts and contracts. There is need for fund raisers on both state and local levels.

Mediators are needed to resolve disputes, particularly in cases that would involve children in adversarial proceedings between parents.

Speakers are needed at the community level to address parents, tenants, seniors and other groups on current legal issues such as living wills, Medicare, Medicaid and other health-related issues.

The community at large looks at lawyers as a resource and as special people, but nothing makes you feel as special as a young woman with a black eye and a baby on her hip who feels a little bit safer because you helped her get a protective order, filed her divorce case, and she wants to say, “Thank you.”

If you are tired of all the lawyer bashing jokes, there’s an antidote called pro bono service. It’s the sort of thing that could put lawyers back on the public pedestal they once occupied or at least raise them a couple of notches above politicians.

Service to others, being a volunteer is traditional in Oklahoma and even more so in Tulsa.  “It doesn’t surprise me,” observed Karen “Sunny” Langdon reviewing a recent news article which ranked Tulsa at the top of the list of this country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas in the number of volunteer hours per resident.

Ms. Langdon, who coordinates private attorney volunteers for the Tulsa Legal Aid office, has nothing but praise for her cadre of volunteers. “They are really good about taking cases,” she said, “and I hardly ever get turned down, but I sure could use more lawyers.”

On a related note, OBA General Counsel Dan Murdock, who endorses and promotes pro bono service, observed that he could not recall ever receiving a complaint involving pro bono work by a volunteer. “We should all be taking pro bono cases,“ he said.

Want to feel good about yourself? Take a pro bono case.

For more information or to sign up as a volunteer, go to http://tinyurl.ocm/2r6egx.