In a couple of weeks, David Barksdale will spend his lunchtime teaching colleagues the relatively simple process of sealing and expunging the arrest records of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) clients.
How that short training session could ripple through the First Coast community and economy is a very exciting thought to JALA’s Sarah Fowler, public service project director.
“It might not seem like a lot on the face of it, but that training session of David’s could be the difference between hundreds of people getting jobs or remaining unemployed,” Fowler said.
“Obviously,” added Barksdale, “Every time a JALA client gets a job, it’s good for the client, but it’s also good for Jacksonville.”
Many people come to JALA having been denied work because background checks reveal old arrests, often for relatively minor things like worthless checks, says Barksdale, a criminal defense lawyer at Bedell, Dittmar, DeVault, Pillans & Coxe who is currently listed in The Best Lawyers in America.
“Unfortunately, the background checks reveal arrests but often do not reflect that the charges ultimately were dropped,” he said. “So people miss out on jobs at the screening stage even though they have never been convicted.”
The former State Attorney’s Office division chief says the Florida legislature has recognized that such people who have never actually been convicted of a crime deserve a second chance, and that is why state law allows an arrest to be expunged or sealed.
As a criminal lawyer, Barksdale says sealing and expunging is an integral part of his practice, but he knows that attorneys in many other fields could easily add this knowledge to their legal arsenal to better serve their clients, as well as the community.
Barksdale says he usually has five or six seal/expunge cases going at any one time, many of them on behalf of JALA clients.
“It really is very easy,” he said, “and rewarding.”
Barksdale is conducting the free Seal/Expunge lunch-hour CLE training session at JALA’s offices, 126 W. Adams St., Aug. 14. The Seal/Expunge lunch-hour training is part one of a two-part Employability series being offered by JALA. The second part will focus on Driver’s License Reinstatement. The Driver’s License Reinstatement CLE training seminar will be held in September and the date will soon be confirmed. Attorneys who take either training will be asked to represent at least one pro bono client within a year of participating in the seminar in that particular substantive area. Any attorneys interested in attending can contact JALA Pro Bono Development Coordinator Kathy Para at [email protected] or call 356-8371, ext. 363.
“It’s pro bono that’s manageable. It’s pro bono that matters.”