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PRO BONO SERWCES COMMENT R ule 6.1 of the hlodel Rules of Professional Conduct provides that "A lawyer should aspire to render at last 50 homs of pro bono publico legal services per year? According to the Rule, in ful- Uing this obligation, tl~e lawyer should provide a substantial majority of the 50 hours of legalsew ices without fee or expectation of fee to (1) pelsons of limited rueam; or (2) charitable and other organizations designed primady to address the needs of persons of limited n~eans and lmiy21s should provide any additional se~vices through: (1) delivery of legal services at no fee or subs~antidy reduced fee to in&- viduals, groups or o1;mimtions seeking to secure civil lights, civil liberties or public rigl~ts or to charitable, religious commu~uty governmentnl and edncatio~d o~pyizations or where payneut of standard fees would significantly deplete the organization's economic resaurces or would be othenvise inappropriate; (2) delivay of legal services at a substantially redoced fee to persons of limited means; or (3) participztion in activities for huproving the laur, legal system or profession. According to the conunents to the Rule, evety lawr sleres this obligation regardless ofprofessio~~al p~omine~~ce or urorkload. But what about ~ I~IM la~ers laborh~g for indigent defendants at low court appointed wages? Accord'mg to the conlmeut, that doesn't count. Conunent one provides that "Senices can be perfon~~ed in civil matters or in criminal or quasi-crin~inal nmtters for which there is 110 goxrelmlent obligation to provide funds for legd representation, soch as post-convictio~~ de;rth penalty app~l cases. When the governnlellt l~as taken on the respot~sibility of providit~g legd sewices, uitho~~t regard to the adequacy of the fundi~~g, there is no pro bono obligation. According to comnlent four, the intent of the lawyer to render free legal senices is essential. Selvices rendered cmot be cons~dered pro bono if an auticipated fee is uncollected. Thefiual comment to the rule provides that it is not a nlatter to be enforced tl~rough disciplinary sanctio~~s. The pro bone obligation is purely volunta~y. In 1992, the State Bar of Texas adoptedm aspilationd pro bone policy c7Lling on Texas 1axvels to volm~tarily provide 50 hours of pro bono legal senices to thc poor each yea. This palicy includes a system for volunfaiy reporting of pro bono se~vices. The response late has typically been around 25% reporting a median of 20 to 25 hou~s. That adds up to a lot of IIOUIS. In the 1993-1994 reporting y).ea there was a high response of 43% reporting 726,000 houn of pro bono. At a n~odest hourly late of $150 dollas el houl; bat's a contribution by Tesas lawyels of $108,900,000 00 dollars worth of tlair time. PIO bo11o legal se~vices are needed to M the void between goverluuent funded legd services and the needs of he poor. Now Illat Texas lms a shtutoly pravisior for compensating counsel appointed to death penalty post conliction representation, indigent paso~~s hi need of crinunal defense representation at all levels caul geneiay III~II to the comt appointn~eut system hd even though the fees ;rre less than what we nmdd charge ifwe had a solvent payjug client, we go into a court appointment expecthg to be paid. Two th~ngs that make pro bono difficult arc the lack of that most inlpo~lant resource, time, and lack of knowledge of the area of the law in uluch )our bee selvices may be needed. Today the profession is so specialized, unless you regularlyp~xctice family law for example, you may never liave handled a divorce &mly law is probably the area uhcre pro bono services are most i~ecded. Fo~lunately, ~INIY locd bar &=.sociations now offer bee co~~ti~uinglegd etlucation invmous areas of the law to Iau~e~s mterested in pro bono represeutatio~~. In addition, the pro bono obligation can be saisEied in rimy, nnn- tndiholld ways by making contributions of your time to yam community. The rmmn we are asked to contdbulepri~~~artiytluough the lendition of bee legd setvices is obviovbns, the slull is unique to our profession. Menhers of tlus o~gmimtion spend a great deal of time helping people u h are ~ not IegaUy ent~tled to free legal assistance. Responding to inquiries from prisoners, educating their fellow lawyen regarding the needs of the poor, assissistmg coua appointed clients ;utd their fanlilies in adnunistrative ad other legd matters that ae not an ohligatiou of the COIII~ appointment and witl~out ally expectation of compensation So often these senkes are provided witlmut a tl~ougl~t tl~af the lauyer n m&ug an importmt contr~bbution to society Ren~ember tl~ase hours ul~en the State Bar voh~ntay pro bono repo~?ing form comes he n~d. Let the bar, and the public, knowvl~at you are doh~g for theneedy UI your conmunity. It can only inprow our stmding in societ): and maybe, we can get people to stop abusing Shakespeare's clever bttlehe "Iilets kill all the lauyen." W 8 VOICE FOR THE DEFENSE WWW.TCDLA.COM NOVEMBER 2001
JUSTICE SERVED Baron Connelly wceiwd a not guilty on October 2151 for an already incarcerated TDCJ inmate, \Va)mon Flemon charged with assault of a co~~ectional officer, in the 23* Dist~ict Court of B~azo~ia County, Texas, JudgelYlan Stilley ptwiding. Doug Beeson received a not guilty from a jury in Bastrop hvo in a case whew a s11e1ifPs deputy u2a accused of attempted sexual assault of a female police officer (off duty, of cou~se). Walter M. Reaves, Jr. has s~~ccwfi~lly secured a full pardon for Calvin Wasliington hsed upon DNA evidence. Governor Perry gmted ithe pardon on October 11,2001. Guy I. Womack of Houston secu~rd a dismissal for insufficient evidence from the US. Attotney's Office for the South&ti District of Texas, in laredo. Mr. Womack represented the sole defendant and only driver of a tractor/t~dle~.loaded with 2,800 pounds of marijuana Mr. W'omaek also secured a motion to suppress from US Dist~ict Judge Kem~eth Hojt Judge Hop suppressed four kilog~;lms of heroin fouud iu the stlitcase of the defendant in U.S. c Hernandez, on the grounds that the Houston Police ofacer 11ad violated the passenger's rights agu' nst unrmsonable search vhen he entered the luggage con~partment of a Greyhound Dm ininonston, probed her suitcase mith his hands and fhen approached the female pmenger and told her to disembark from tbebns. Tl~e Gove~~unent h;ls appealed his decision. Mc TVon~ack is representing her before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Rkh Circuit RCCDLA IS FRONT AND CENTER ON LOCAL CRIMINAL ISSUES The Hanis County C~iminal Defense Laqers Association has i&ased to the publ~c its Senate Bill 7 proposal. The committee chai~; Jack Zimmerman, was joined by HCWM president,Wayne Hill, David Jones, Jim Leitner, Mike Charlton, Davld Hiatta,and CynthiaHenley. Poradditional detah e-mail Wa)11e Hdl at wth@aol com. fICCDL4 1s also co-sponsoring a 11ve call-in cable access show wh~ch airs on channel 17 in the Houston city hmits on Thu~sdaynightsfmm 8 to 830 p.m. Theshowis sponsored by Dan Gemon and HCCOM, wtli Cynthia llenley as the HCCDU ~rp~wntatin~e. They discuss cu~~wit events in cnmllial justice mattes. HCCDWls nest board meeting is scheduled for lbcsday, November 13 at noon at the criminal courthouse. HCCDIA is sponsoring The SecorrdAmtrun/ Copil~g with the Pructice of lnlu SJlmposill~n. The cost is free but a $25 donation w~ll be accepted to help dehy the apeuses ;lssoc~ated 1vitl1 the seminar Any money collectedin excess of the cost of the se~uharwvill be allocated to the HCCDW scbolarsliip fund. Contnct Gythia Henlcy for more inforn~ation at 713-2288500. THANK YOU TO RICK HAGEN & DCCDLA A special U~anb is owed to TCDJA bead nnember; Rick Hagen, and the Denion County Criminal Defense lavqers Association for its generosity in sponsoring ihe &er-Lours cvetits at the Deuelopiing the Theog~ of u Cnse Smni~~ar. Without M1: Hagen thc sentmar would not have been as s~~ccessf~~l. WHAT'S OOlNG ON IN YOUR CORNER OF TEXAS? LET US KNOW 151214782514 NOVEMBER ZOO1 YVIVW.ICOLA.COM VOICE FOR THE DEFENSE 9
Page 2 and 3: REGISTRATION INFORMATION l'lease co
Page 4 and 5: lHE PURPOSES OF TCDLA The purposes
Page 6 and 7: T CDU is illways looking for new en
Page 10 and 11: ... AND, THE JUDGE CONTINUED, "DON'
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