When my book Contempt of Court: A Turn of the Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism was published, The New York Times review focused on a single sentence on the first page of the first chapter:
“Ed Johnson was not a significant man, except in the sense that all people have significance.”
Johnson was a Black man who couldn’t read or write, worked two jobs to survive in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1906 who was falsely arrested for a rape he did not commit, railroaded through the criminal justice system and sentence to death – all in three weeks.
The Texas Lawbook is in its 12th year of existence. The publication caters to elite corporate lawyers – those who work in the tall towers and bill at hourly rates well into four digits. The partners make millions of dollars. The associates take home six figures. These are the salaries that the market demands. Because of their legal expertise, these lawyers are responsible for hundreds of billions of dollars changing hands annually through mergers, acquisitions, capital markets and litigation.
This is the time of the year, however, for our readers to take a step back and rethink our personal priorities. If not now, we never will.
How can we, as lawyers, make our communities a better place by helping the most desperate among us?
There is a young woman I know personally who is the mother of three children. Several years ago, she lost custody of her three children to her ex-boyfriend. He got a family court order requiring her to pay child support. She was homeless and didn’t have the money. The Texas Attorney General obtained a court judgment against her.
This woman, now in her mid-30s, got a job and an apartment and the kids went back to staying with her. Three years ago, police arrested the boyfriend for raping her daughter – his stepdaughter. He is now serving 30 years in prison.
But that family court judgment against her is still on the books. She has been unable to convince the Texas Attorney General to re-examine her case. Under the law, money is taken from her hourly wage job as a cook at a local restaurant to pay the man who raped her daughter. Because of the state court judgment, she cannot qualify for most federal or state government financial benefits.
If this mother of three had a lawyer work on her case for just four or five hours, it would dramatically impact her life and improve the life of her children. This is work only a lawyer can do.
This kind of situation happens every day to military veterans, people illegally evicted from their homes, immigrants and mothers and fathers and their children living below the poverty line.
This year, The Texas Lawbook created a full-time writer position to do nothing but cover pro bono and public service by lawyers in Texas. Natalie Posgate writes about corporate lawyers doing good – taking on pro bono matters and giving to charities and non-profits.
But Natalie also writes about the cases like this single mom, and veterans and homeless and those trapped in sex trafficking. She writes articles detailing how our legal aid groups in Texas are extraordinarily understaffed to handle the huge demand. She also writes about how lawyers – those at law firms and corporate legal departments – can help address this crisis.
This single mom is now getting the legal help she needs.
Natalie’s columns could be renamed, “All People Have Significance.”
During this holiday season, The Texas Lawbook has two requests:
Send Natalie the stories of the pro bono matters you are handling and the matters where you think there is a need for lawyers to step forward; and
Please consider contributing to the Texas Lawbook Foundation, the IRS-approved 501(c)(3) non-profit that supports Natalie’s tremendous work. You can read more about Natalie’s work and the foundation by going to texaslawbookfoundation.org. There is a secure button there for giving.
We lawyers have tremendous influence in our communities. As a profession, we are endowed with certain abilities and privileges that provide us opportunities to do good, to right wrongs, to make a difference.
In 2023, The Lawbook and Natalie are going to make sure that we shine a spotlight on the Texas lawyers who demonstrate that all people do indeed have significance.
Happy Holidays.