The Good Lawyers
When you think of a lawyer, sometimes we get an image of high powered men in flashy suits charging $300 an hour to talk legal talk that nobody understands but other lawyers. And when we get those media images of lawyers in our heads, the idea of a lawyer who wants to use his or her specialized talent with the law and that extensive education they all have to have to practice law for community service work seems almost ridiculous.
It’s a good idea in all aspects of life not to let television or movie images of anyone affect reality very much. The truth is there are thousands of lawyers who went into law for other reasons than to make money and run for governor. In every city and town in the country, there are lawyers who work for very little to defend people who need help with the legal system try to get a fair shake in a system that seems to reward the wealthy and the influential.
Most of us know at least a few lawyers. To be sure, there seems to be a lot of them. But if you think about your friends who are lawyers, many have them have a strong sense of community service and a desire to use the privilege and education that has been given to them to benefit society. It is a tradition that goes back for centuries in the legal profession. A lawyer by definition is one who stands between the people and the government to try to help those who have been falsely accused or need an advocate to be treated fairly.
That attitude of responsibility to the community is reflected in the values of the Bar Association of America. The Bar Association holds its members to a high standard of public responsibility and accountability. And part of that sense of responsibility is using their talents and abilities as part of their community service. So part of a lawyer’s commitment includes dedicated a certain amount of hours to the community to be offered as free legal assistance to those who cannot afford a lawyer otherwise.
Now to be fair, this is required by the American Bar Association of all lawyers on a state by state basis. An average of 50 hours a year is required for a lawyer to continue to be a member of the Bar in good standing. This is called “Pro Bono Publico” work (usually shorted to Pro Bono) which is Latin for “in the public good”. But rather than see that as something negative, this reflects the values of the Bar Association and it sends a message to anyone who wants to hang out their shingle as a lawyer that being in service to the community is important and encouraged from the highest levels of the legal profession.
The attitudes of public responsibility don’t just end at the door of the Bar Association building. Many lawyers give far more than their minimum requirements in free legal service to the community. In every city and town in this country, you can find lawyers working side by side with doctors, dentists, construction people and professionals of every description to try and help out people who don’t have a lot to give back but just need that helping hand.
So let’s lay aside our prejudices about lawyers that we pick up from too many movies and television shows that only show the bad ones. When we do that we will realize that lawyers are good neighbors, good family men and woman and really do care about giving back to the community just like you and I do. Those are truly the good lawyers.
PPPPP 619
|
|
|
|
Young Hands Making a Difference What is the more important goal of any kid? Well if you are a kid ...
read more
A Different Kind of Christmas Each year as Christmas season begins to go into full gear, we hear the complaint ...
read more
A Rich Retirement Whether it is you who is approaching those golden years we call retirement or one of your ...
read more
Can Mandatory Community Service Work? Lots of organizations coordinate youth community service work. And you would be hard pressed to ...
read more
Children Reaching Children War is a terrible thing. And the war we are trying to get through right now sure ...
read more
Coming Together There is something about community service that causes a sense of coming together that really is not possible ...
read more
Community Service is a Family Affair Sometimes we think our kids never listen to us. This can be a particularly ...
read more
Frats are not all like “Animal House” When you think of a college fraternity, the traditional image of a hard ...
read more
Getting the Government out of Community Service We live in a time when we tend to look to the government ...
read more
Helping Hands Around the World When we think of community service, we almost always think in terms of our local ...
read more
How the Rich Really Get Richer Somehow we have a fascination and sometimes a disgust toward the wealthiest people in ...
read more
It Takes a Village A few years ago a book came out called “It Takes a Village” that created a ...
read more
Jerry’s Kids Forty one years. That is quite a long time. And that is how long Jerry Lewis has been ...
read more
Merchants Reach Out Sometimes we see some tremendous acts of community service that one of the really big businesses in ...
read more
Real Patriotism Patriotism is a word that has gotten a lot of use in the last few years as more ...
read more
Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels. If you have bikers in your community, you can relate to that sense ...
read more
Teens on a Mission from God One of the many great lines from the classic movie The Blues Brothers was ...
read more
The Church as Good Neighbor There has been a lot of discussion going on about whether religion should be part ...
read more
The Evidence of Eagles Most of us at some point or another have met a young man who proudly includes ...
read more
The Good Lawyers When you think of a lawyer, sometimes we get an image of high powered men in flashy ...
read more
The Greatest Generation Not long ago, Tom Brokaw, a well known newsman and author wrote a book about the heroic ...
read more
The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity There may be no more recognizable organization name that comes to mind when we ...
read more
The Power of Working Together All around the country, community service is powered by such a wide variety of organizations ...
read more
Those Men on Tiny Motorcycles and the Funny Hats On the children’s cartoon, The Flintstones, Fred and Barney belong to ...
read more
What’s in it for Them? Have you noticed how many of the really big businesses in every community always seem ...
read more
What You Can Do for Your Country At one time the method for keeping the armed forces supplied with young ...
read more
|
|
Disclaimer
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site is a common sense guide to The Good Lawyers. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
|
|
Young Hands Making a Difference
A Different Kind of Christmas
A Rich Retirement
Can Mandatory Community Service Work?
Children Reaching Children
Coming Together
Community Service is a Family Affair
Frats are not all like “Animal House”
Getting the Government out of Community Service
Helping Hands Around the World
How the Rich Really Get Richer
It Takes a Village
Jerry’s Kids
Merchants Reach Out
Real Patriotism
Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels
Teens on a Mission from God
The Church as Good Neighbor
The Evidence of Eagles
The Good Lawyers
The Greatest Generation
The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity
The Power of Working Together
Those Men on Tiny Motorcycles and the Funny Hats
What’s in it for Them?
What You Can Do for Your Country
| 