Lippman calls on lawyers to ’embrace a culture of service’

All new attorneys in New York state will be required to contribute 50 hours of free legal service before they will be able to practice in the state.

Under new protocols announced Tuesday by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, New York will become the first state in the nation to require pro bono service for admission to the bar.

“What better way to send the strongest message to those about to enter our profession — assisting in meeting the urgent need for legal services is a necessary and essential qualification to becoming a lawyer,” Judge Lippman said, making his annual Law Day address at the Court of Appeals Hall in Albany.

“With this new initiative, New York will lead the way in stating loudly and clearly that service to others is an indispensable part of our legal training and that before you can call yourself a lawyer in New York, you must demonstrate in a very tangible way your commitment to the ideals of our great profession.”

The new protocol is to help address the civil legal services crisis brought about by reduced government funds, coupled with an increase in need of basic life services, created by the economic crisis.

The way it will work is that students applying to the Appellate Division for admission to the bar, starting next year, will have to include an affidavit describing the nature of their pro bono work, the organization and the individual lawyer who supervised them and the dates and hours of service.

Ensuring that applicants have completed their pro bono service before they are admitted to practice law will be done by the four Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court, through their committees on character and fitness that oversee and approve all admissions to the bar. Judge Lippman said the presiding justices “have fully embraced” the new requirement.

“It is my hope that New York will serve as the trendsetter nationally in requiring pro bono service for admission to the bar and in recognizing that it is an essential part of what it means to be a lawyer,” Judge Lippman said. “Across the country, it is critical that we formally recognize pro bono service as an indispensable part of our legal culture.”

He said about 10,000 prospective lawyers pass the New York Bar Exam annually and that 50 hours of law-related pro bono work would be a little more than a few days of service for each year of law school, resulting in 500,000 hours a year to benefit New Yorkers in need of help.

“If every state in the country were to join us in taking up this mantle, that would mean at least 2.5 million hours of additional pro bono work,” Judge Lippman said. “What a positive impact on persons of limited means, communities and organizations that would gain from this infusion of pro bono work.”

He said the service will not only benefit clients in dire need, but will help prospective lawyers build valuable skills and acquire hands-on experience crucial to being a good lawyer.

“There can be no argument that newly minted lawyers are simply better at their jobs when they receive direct experience in the practice of law,” Judge Lippman said.

He cited examples in which prospective attorneys will gain real-world lessons by helping cash-strapped state and local government entities, families facing eviction or foreclosure, domestic violence victims obtain divorces or working with an attorney to draft a contract for a fledgling not-for-profit.

Judge Lippman said it will not be the responsibility of law schools to provide pro bono opportunities, although he noted many already do; students may also explore internships, look to legal services providers or work with local bar associations to find pro bono possibilities. The work may be completed while they are still in law school, during summers, after graduation, after taking the bar exam or even after beginning a paid legal position in a law firm or elsewhere.

Judge Lippman began his address by reaffirming the ideals of equality and justice as the roots of national prosperity, noting freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution cannot be taken for granted and that lawyers, as the gatekeepers of justice, have a special duty to participate.

He called for “instilling and fostering a culture of service” in those who enter the profession, saying the new protocols will challenge students to ask basic questions “fundamental to the very fiber of the legal profession:”

• How will you choose to benefit your fellow man and community with your new skills?

• Will you use your legal acumen to foster equal justice?

• Do you recognize that being a lawyer requires understanding that access to justice must be available to all New Yorkers, regardless of their station in life?

“From the start, these responsibilities of the profession must be a part of every lawyer’s DNA — to support the values of justice, equality and the rule of law that make this state and this country great,” Judge Lippman said. “As far back as judges and lawyers have existed, the pursuit of equal justice for all, rich and poor alike, has been the hallmark of our profession. In New York, now more than ever, we will make this moral imperative a reality before anyone is given the privilege and the honor of practicing law in our great state.”

He then introduced Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, whom he called a great partner in the pursuit of justice.

Schneiderman focused on the need for access to courts, outlining the plight of a Brooklyn woman he called Mrs. Brown. In removing her husband’s name from their mortgage, following a divorce, he said she had unknowingly entered into a negative amortization loan and was eventually threatened with the loss of her home when she could not make payments.

Schneiderman attributed an innovative and creative judiciary, with helping solve such problems. He mentioned some measures Judge Lippman has put in place, such as required conferences, during one of which Mrs. Brown was able to get her loan modified and stay in her home.

Schneiderman reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring every New Yorker is afforded equal justice under the law and cited his efforts to protect the rights of those facing foreclosure by ensuring that they are represented by lawyers.

He also embraced the national Law Day theme of “No Courts, No Justice, No Freedom,” and the importance of access to courts, saying that is only meaningful when people are represented by lawyers.

Schneiderman recently announced his office will fund foreclosure prevention legal services and housing counseling for the next three years for homeowners facing foreclosure. Funding for the state’s foreclosure prevention program was set to expire on April 1. The program was saved when Schneiderman announced that $15 million from the recent multi-state settlement with the five largest mortgage servicing banks would be used to provide the services.

New York State Bar Association President Vincent E. Doyle III emphasized the judiciary’s prominence in the U.S. Constitution, stressing the importance of a fully funded and operational court system.

“Our Founding Fathers ordered the priorities that should be set in order to ‘form a more perfect union’ in the preamble,” said Doyle of Buffalo (Connors & Vilardo).

“Listed first — before providing for a common defense, before promoting the general welfare, before ensuring domestic tranquility — first was listed, ‘establish justice.’”

He noted the “essential role” the courts play in the lives of Americans and said the judiciary cannot fulfill that role without adequate resources.

“In matters large and small, the judiciary is the foundation of our freedom,” Doyle said. “Every day, courts deal with matters that dramatically shape the lives of the people involved. When the courts hurt, that pain radiates down our streets and into our businesses. We cannot forget the ideals of justice become a reality only in a court system that works.”

Doyle also cited a comprehensive report (www.nysba.org/CourtFundingReport) released by the state bar association in January that examines the impact of 2011 budget cuts on the state court.

The program was broadcast live via webcast and is available on the court’s website at: www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/index.htm.