"It's Time to Start Looking at Good Things Lawyers Do", Vancouver Sun

by Janice and George Mucalov

With the recent negative publicity surrounding lawyer Martin Wirick, who allegedly committed a massive multi-million dollar real estate fraud in cahoots with a client, it's perhaps easy to jump on the popular bandwagon and paint the whole legal profession with the same black brush.

But to do so is to commit a grave injustice against the vast majority of very decent, ethical, principled lawyers - who happen to do a lot of good.

Wirick is only one out of some 10,000 lawyers in BC. Every profession and business unfortunately has some wrongdoers. Look at the allegations concerning Enron and Arthur Andersen, World Com and Bernie Ebbers, Tyco and Koslowski, Adelphia. The list goes on.

The good things lawyers do don't get a lot of press. Like the fact that lawyers donate time for free to needy people who can't afford to pay.

A full 78% of lawyers in BC provide free legal services. Half of those donate more than five hours a month, giving on average eight hours of time a month.

Many volunteer through the Salvation Army's Pro Bono Lawyer Consultant Program ("pro bono" basically means for free). Started in 1985 by Vancouver lawyer Dugald Christie - who actually quit his own private practice in 1998 to volunteer full time to develop the program - it now counts approximately 280 lawyers on its roster. At 22 clinics throughout the province, these lawyers help people in need with drafting their wills, notarizing documents and preparing for court.

People bogged down in Court of Appeal proceedings can even get help through the Salvation Army's new Court of Appeal Pro Bono Clinic. Respected criminal lawyer Richard Peck QC, Geoffrey Cowper QC (representing the civil bar) and Georgialee Lang (on behalf of family lawyers) coordinate, on a volunteer basis, a list of senior lawyers willing to assist unrepresented litigants for free.

Another 235 or so lawyers volunteer through the Western Canada Society to Access Justice Pro Bono Program. They give from two to four hours of time each month at half-hour appointments, scheduled at 36 clinics in BC, including in Vancouver's Chinatown and the Native Friendship Centre in Prince George.

Many more unsung practitioners work pro bono at their firms or slash their rates in deserving cases.

These lawyers care passionately that no one should be denied access to justice because of poverty. They care if a welfare recipient is devastated because his stereo and belongings have been stolen from the cheap hotel where he's been staying, or if a struggling mother needs extra maintenance from her deadbeat ex to pay for her dyslexic child's special schooling. And they help these people get results.

Other lawyers provide free legal services not to individuals, but to charitable, religious, civic, community and educational organizations. The Battered Women's Support Services legal advocacy program, for example, relies heavily on seven volunteer lawyers. Staff call these lawyers for advice on court processes, so they can help the women who come to them - many of whom have been abused - with their child custody and other problems.

To help facilitate lawyer involvement in delivering pro bono legal services, the Law Society of BC and the BC branch of the Canadian Bar Association have just launched a new non-profit society called Pro Bono Law of BC. Through a new website coming online shortly (www.probononet.bc.ca), community organizations can post requests for free legal assistance, to which individual lawyers can respond directly.

Let's also not forget the other free legal services offered by the profession to the public - like Dial-A-Law, which provides listeners with pre-recorded legal information on everything from co-signing a loan to getting busted for possessing marijuana.

Remember too the recent efforts of the bar to protect legal aid and other government funding for programs benefiting disadvantaged groups in the face of severe budget cuts.

Then there are all those lawyers who volunteer on hospital fund-raising committees, at their kids' schools, on the boards of charitable agencies and in other community endeavours. Fully two-thirds of the profession perform volunteer community service, other than pro bono legal services, averaging at least three hours a month.

Rather than maligning lawyers, maybe it's time to honour their efforts instead.

© Copyright by Janice and George Mucalov

A version of this column was first published in the Vancouver Sun. The column provides information only and must not be relied on for legal advice. Consult your lawyer if you need legal advice.