© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Alicia Hernandez of the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program
(Jan. 3) – Dallas is one of the most vibrant business climates in the country. With that, comes a highly developed and sophisticated legal market. Corporate titans, businesses and entrepreneurs have no shortage of legal talent to handle their important, sophisticated and complex legal matters. Dallas is awash in large and national firms moving into this market because of the high demand for legal services by corporate law departments.
In many ways, business clients and business lawyers alike in Dallas are blessed. But what about those clients at or below the margins of Dallas? While Dallas touts one of the most prosperous business climates, a staggering 25% of people in Dallas qualify for free legal help because they are living at or near the poverty level. What are we as business lawyers to do?
Fortunately, Dallas is also blessed with one of the best pro bono legal aid programs in the country – the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP). A nationally recognized program, DVAP provides a safety valve for individuals and families in desperate need of legal services they cannot afford.
When low-income clients need help on a family law case, housing or consumer matter, or will and probate case (just to name a few of the issues DVAP handles), DVAP is where we send them. DVAP is awash in clients who need the help of those of us who have a law license and the wherewithal to make a difference in others’ lives.
Unfortunately, DVAP, a joint program of the Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, is not awash in enough pro bono volunteers to handle the load. Although thousands are helped each year, there are many who go without legal advice and representation because there are not enough lawyers stepping up to help. DVAP is always in need of more volunteers to provide advice at clinics, interview clients, and accept legal cases of varying complexity.
Corporate law departments are in a unique position to significantly impact legal aid to the poor in Dallas. While lawyers as a whole hold the keys to the courthouse doors, corporate legal departments set the stage for what is important to our legal community. If pro bono legal aid to the poor is important to local in-house lawyers, pro bono legal aid to the poor will be important to the business lawyers in our legal community as well.
“I have never met a lawyer who doesn’t believe in access to justice,” says Victor Vital, Co-Chair of the 2016 Equal Access to Justice Campaign benefitting DVAP. “Lawyers are in a unique position to recognize its importance and ensure its protection. We understand that access to justice is much more than unlocking the courthouse doors for people. It is much more than legal advice and a legal remedy. If people have no access to justice, the laws of our country are meaningless,” continues Vital.
Campaign Co-Chair Bill Mateja agrees. “If there is no access to justice, there is no access to unbiased adjudicators to resolve disputes. When people are shut out of our system of justice because it is financially inaccessible, they not only have no way to resolve disputes, the legitimacy of our entire system is called into question. A justice system that exists only for those who can pay is no justice system at all.”
This is where all lawyers step in, standing up to take pro bono cases and provide financial support to programs that provide legal aid services to the poor. Corporate lawyers can make pro bono a priority by encouraging in-house lawyers and outside counsel to start pro bono programs within their companies, partner with each other to take cases and volunteer at clinics, and provide financial support to legal aid.
David R. McAtee, II, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel for AT&T Inc. and the Honorary Chair for the 2016 Equal Access to Justice Campaign, is no stranger to community service, including as a pro bono attorney for the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, starting during his time as an attorney at Haynes and Boone. Likewise, Stacey Doré, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Energy Future Holdings, was a pro bono lawyer and the pro bono coordinator for her former firm, Vinson & Elkins.
Attorneys from AT&T and Energy Future Holdings are long-time supporters of DVAP, representing pro bono clients and providing advice and counsel at legal clinics. These companies also have committed financially to the Equal Access to Justice Campaign. In doing so, they demonstrate that pro bono legal representation is important to them and also should be important to the entire legal community.
To learn more about the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program and the Equal Access to Justice Campaign, contact Alicia Hernandez at ahernandez@dallasbar.org.
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