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 BAR FOUNDATION PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JULY/AUGUST 2008
Friends in Low Places
JOHN A. TARANTINO, ESQ.
Rhode Island Bar Foundation President
In 1958, a group of caring and committed lawyers started the Rhode Island Bar Foundation as a non-profit, charitable organization. They became the Foundation’s first Fellows. Today, 50 years later, caring and committed lawyers, our current Foundation fellows, carry on the Foundation’s mission to foster and maintain the honor and integrity of the profession of law, improve and facilitate the administration of justice, improve the delivery of legal services, and provide legal services to the poor in our state.
I’ve been a Fellow of the Foundation for many years. I’ve served on the Foundation’s Board of Directors, and, since 2005, I’ve had the honor of serving as the Foundation’s President. Therefore, I’m generally comfortable answering questions about the Foundation and what it does.
This year, at the Bar Association’s Annual Meeting, my name badge included my title as Bar Foundation President. A lawyer approached me and asked: “So what exactly does the Bar Foundation do?”
I answered: “We help people.”
He looked at me a bit quizzically and asked: “What kind of people?”
“Human beings, mostly,” I answered. (Sometimes I think that I have a sense of humor.)
“Very funny. What I mean is, who are these people? Other lawyers? Law students? Members of the public? Who?”
I answered: “All of the above, and more, I hope. We help lawyers by maintaining the honor and integrity of the practice. We help law students by promoting knowledge and awareness of the law and through our Thomas F. Black, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Program. And we help the public by improving the administration of justice. But, perhaps, the most important work we do is to provide legal services to the underprivileged, the poor, the immigrants, the outcasts of society. In fact, that’s what I’m most proud of.”
“Okay. I get it. So, you’re one of those guys with friends in low places.” He laughed. (I suppose he thought he had a sense of humor as well.)
His comment (and laughter) initially upset me, but once I reflected on what he’d said, I responded as follows: “You’re right. I do have friends in low places, and so do all of the Bar Foundation Fellows. Those folks need friends. I wish they had more.”
The lawyer now looked at me with seriousness. “Impressive,” he remarked. “Truly impressive.” He was sincere in his concession.
We shook hands as he left to attend a Bar program. I left thinking that I had educated him about the Foundation, but I must admit that his closing remark made me recall Mark Twain’s advice: “Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” It also made me realize that we have to do more to help the poor.
We are doing so. The Bar Foundation and the Bar Association are taking actions – important actions – to help our friends, no matter their stations in life, to stand up, be counted and be recognized as having the right of equal access to justice. We all cherish living in a just society. And in a just society, being poor should be a disgrace to no man, woman or child. But the crushing effects of poverty, which are felt by so many in our state today, should be a disgrace to us all. Although the poor have many burdens, they shouldn’t have to bear the additional burden of being denied equal access to justice. Unfortunately, though, in today’s world, access to justice is sometimes linked to a person’s wealth. That’s wrong. And unless we de-link justice from wealth, I fear that one day when we all face our own ultimate form of justice, we may be doomed, like Jacob Marley, to wear the chains of oppression and inequality we forged in life.
How will the Bar Foundation and Bar Association work together to improve access to justice? First, we urge all members of the Bar to meet the aspirational goals of Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1. Rule 6.1 recognizes that “[e]very lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay … and that [a] lawyer should aspire to render at least 50 hours of pro bono publico legal services per year.”
Second, the Bar Foundation and Bar Association plan to file a joint petition asking the Rhode Island Supreme Court to amend Rule of Professional Conduct 1.15 to make the establishment of Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) mandatory for all lawyers who hold client funds. We also want the rules to be clear that lawyers may not establish IOLTA accounts with any financial institution that discriminates against IOLTA accounts by paying a lower interest rate than what the financial institution pays on non-IOLTA accounts with the same minimum balances and other requirements. What we want to accomplish through these rule changes is known as rate parity. These changes, if approved by our Supreme Court, will bring Rhode Island’s IOLTA rules into the mainstream (as most states now have mandatory IOLTA and rate parity) and, thereby, will help to ensure that there are sufficient IOLTA funds available to serve those in need.
Make no mistake: We need to make these changes. They’re no longer options. The poor in our state are as much in need of legal services as are the poor in our neighboring states; and the poor in our state are as entitled to legal services as those who live in our neighboring states. Presently, however, the poor in our state are treated differently than those in our neighboring states because IOLTA interest rates in Rhode Island are generally lower than IOLTA interest rates in other New England states. We’re committed to end this disparity. And if these changes are made, we’ll be helping our friends in low places gain the same access to justice that the well-to-do enjoy.
Let’s be clear: We need to stop saying to the poor that we’re sorry because we lack adequate funding for legal services. When we use the excuse that there isn’t enough money available to help the poor, we cheapen the value of justice. Again, that’s wrong. That’s unacceptable. That must change.
As I wrote in a previous President’s Message, Disabilities and Justice (Rhode Island Bar Journal July/August 2006), we can bring about real change in the lives of the less fortunate by helping to “fund programs, services and agencies that provide lawyers to persons who need them so that those needy persons can make legal sense out of dire situations, something that all too often can’t be achieved without dollars and cents.” Two years have passed since I wrote those words, and although we’ve made some progress in expanding legal services to the poor much more needs to be done. The economy is much worse off now than it was when I wrote that message. Unfortunately, we can’t change the economy. However, we can try to change views about legal services to the poor and, perhaps even more importantly, we can try to change the rules about the funding of those services. I’m convinced that if we work together to implement these proposed rule changes, we’ll not only raise awareness of what it takes to help the poor, but also raise more money from IOLTA accounts. If we do so, we can ensure adequate funding for legal services even in a bad economy.
Think about how many times you’ve regretted not having a chance to make things better in Rhode Island. Sometimes we get frustrated because we believe there’s little we can do to improve conditions in our state. Well, now we all have a chance – a real and unique opportunity – to make things better for people in Rhode Island who are in need. We can work together to make our local communities, our state and our legal system the best that they can be. We can be friends to those in need, no matter their color, race, creed, gender, or position in life. We can do so by ensuring that they have access to justice.
The Latin saying, Ius est ars boni et aequi, means, “Justice is the art of the good and the fair.” Let’s pledge that the art of the good and the fair will never become a lost art in our justice system. And let’s remember to always practice another art, the gentle art of friendship. Finally, let’s understand that when we help those who are on the outside, the disenfranchised and the poor, we’re not stooping to perform a lowly and menial task. Rather, we’re recognizing these folks as friends and persons of worth, and, in so doing, we’re all rising to honor true justice.
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