Jacksonville Bar Association President Dan Bean
One of the many honors the President of The Jacksonville Bar Association receives is the opportunity to address the fall and spring class of new lawyers moments before they take the oath and join The Florida Bar.
Last week, we had a ceremony for more than 70 new lawyers and in addition to congratulating them on their great achievement and encouraging them to join our association, I focused my comments on the importance of increasing the amount of community service they perform, particularly as their legal careers progress.
I believe, as do many others, our profession possesses that unique obligation to serve others because each of us have jointly been given and earned “greatness” as lawyers, and like Sir Winston Churchill said decades ago: “The price of greatness is responsibility.” Accordingly, lawyers possess a responsibility to our community to do what we can to improve the lives of others. We know a lot of you are already doing this. Weekly within these pages we spotlight lawyers who perform community service. We have run more than 1,000 public service announcements on local radio stations that promote the good works of Jacksonville lawyers. We have run full page advertisements in The Florida Times-Union promoting the community service achievements of our members. And we know we are only scratching the surface.
While membership in our association is certainly not a prerequisite for performing community service, our association sponsors a plethora of programs that make it very simple for lawyers to assist our community. For example, our Holiday Project annually assists more than 500 senior citizens who would not otherwise receive holiday cheer. Our Young Lawyers Section annually raises tens of thousands of dollars for a variety of local charities and through the “Holiday in January” project, provides gifts to hundreds of foster children who would not otherwise receive anything.
This year we also established some new programs to make it even easier for our lawyers to continue to make a difference in our community. We established a Pro Bono Committee headed by Kathy Para (you may reach her at [email protected]) and she always possesses multiple opportunities for you to perform pro bono work (all of which include a veil of malpractice coverage protection). The need for help is overwhelming and Kathy will make it easy for you to help someone who simply cannot adequately help themselves.
We are also establishing a new community service program this year we believe will increase our profession’s ability to make a difference in the lives of others. The Jacksonville Bar Association will be offering multiple “Ask-A-Lawyer” opportunities in neighborhoods within the Fourth Judicial Circuit. These forums will be staffed by attorneys like you and me. Neighborhoods and specific sites will be identified by members of our City Council.
Our “Ask-A-Lawyer” forums may take place in community centers and may be held in conjunction with other neighborhood events. Citizens who participate will sign statements verifying they understand the interviewing attorney will not be opening a case, but is simply there to provide some basic legal guidance and information on additional community resources. For matters that may require full representation, residents may be referred to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid or to the Jacksonville Lawyer Referral Service. The Jacksonville Bar Association is committed to making a difference in our community and we believe this is a great vehicle for us to do so.
Our first “Ask-a-Lawyer” event will occur Oct. 24 and we are kicking off this effort in observance of the American Bar Association’s “Celebrate Pro Bono Week” (Oct. 25-31) and in support of Mayor John Peyton’s proclamation of the week here in Jacksonville. For more information or to sign up to participate as an interviewing attorney in the new project, contact Kathy at [email protected].
We have established yet another new program in conjunction with the Public Defender’s Office and Jacksonville Area Legal Aid that will permit lawyers to garner invaluable courtroom experience while providing needed assistance to those two institutions. In a nutshell, lawyers will be able to accept a single case from either entity or work up to a month or more at a time. While this program continues to evolve, we already have three volunteers for this project and again, Kathy is our point of contact for this unique program.
Lastly, I will leave you with a quote from one of my all-time favorite baseball players, Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, whose life was cut short in 1972 when the airplane he was in crashed because it was overloaded with relief supplies for victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua. Roberto said: “Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.” Lawyers make a difference every day, and we are asking you to make even more of a difference by involving yourself in one of the multiple programs we sponsor. Thanks, and remember, it’s a great day to be a Jacksonville lawyer.