Push for Lawyer Volunteerism

Ed Connor, the group’s 1998 president, said he is seeking volunteers to work through the bar association’s Public Law Center on behalf of poor children needing legal help. Only a little more than 10% of the 11,000 attorneys in the county perform free legal work through the program, a smaller percentage than in many other counties.

The center performs a valuable service for those too poor to pay for a lawyer but not poor enough to take advantage of the federally funded Legal Aid Society of Orange County.

Last year the center found an attorney to sue Cal-OPTIMA, the county’s managed care health program for the poor, on behalf of people with disabilities who complained the program had stalled their requests for medical aid. Negotiations to settle the suit are in progress. But the center’s executive director, Scott Wylie, noted that one plaintiff, who for 17 months had sought an operation to heal a broken arm, finally received one soon after the center became involved.

Wylie said the center’s lawyers do “go out and look for people being taken advantage of or abused,” but not to line their pockets. They receive no fees and take clients only on referral, usually from parties such as senior citizen advocates or programs for abused women.

Top priorities, set by the center’s board, are keeping the roof over a family’s head or ensuring that children see a doctor, Wylie said. Those are goals beyond dispute.

Wylie acknowledged that lawyers don’t have the highest of reputations. But America prides itself on being a nation of laws. People must not be deprived of their rights because they are poor. Volunteer attorneys are necessary to ensure equal protection under the law.