by Kathy Para
JBA Pro Bono Committee Chair
Pro Bono Spotlight
Anybody who’s gotten into law just to make money has not really gotten “into” law, according to Dan McCranie.
Of course, McCranie won’t deny making a few bucks in his personal injury practice in Jacksonville and Fernandina Beach.
“Personal injury law is what we do to keep the doors open,” he said.
But what’s kept him coming through those doors every morning for the past 41 years is not the bottom line on some ledger sheet.
To truly see the well-known twinkle in McCranie’s eyes, the subject will have to look to pro bono client Felix Jones, the iconic, harmonica-playing Fernandina Beach street vendor whose pies, cookies and southern charm were recently threatened by city law. Or they can look to the 80-year-old lady who is battling foreclosure in an attempt to try to live out her last years in her longtime home. Or even look to the boys and girls in the youth clubs he works with – the ones who “keep him real.”
To see the twinkle turn to fire, just get McCranie to talk about how some South Florida mega-law firms – 1,000 lawyers strong – come into his little neck of the woods and try to make a buck on people who are simply struggling to make ends meet.
“It’s just such an emotional issue when people are in danger of losing their homes,” said McCranie. “Those firms, they come in here and try to play the odds, assuming that most people will simply cave into the pressure of the big banks and the lawyers. Fortunately, we’ve been able to work out a great number of these foreclosures.”
To hear McCranie tell it, one would think he is merely a conduit between Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) foreclosure expert Lynn Drysdale and Circuit Court Judge Brian Davis, who will bend his schedule backward to ensure no one loses his or her home because a timely court date could not be arranged.
“Really, between Lynn and Judge Davis, it all works very smoothly,” said McCranie, of the 52 pro bono foreclosure cases that have crossed his desk in the past two years.
But with the thousands of foreclosure cases that have swamped Northeast Florida in recent years, there’s no way Drysdale or JALA could possibly keep pace without the unfailing support of pro bono attorneys such as McCranie.
“There are many attorneys who step up and assist low-income clients with meritorious cases. Dan not only represents dozens and dozens of these clients who otherwise would be unrepresented, but recruits others to do the same thing,” said Drysdale. “He has also been a wonderful role model and mentor for me personally. Dan does more than his part to ensure justice is served. We are very grateful for Dan’s commitment to individuals and to the integrity of the bar and the judicial system.”
Drysdale is not alone in her admiration of McCranie.
“Dan McCranie is nothing short of a hero in our nation’s current financial crisis,” said Sarah Fowler of the Pro Bono unit at JALA. “He has given countless hours of his own time and energy to do what is right for the people of his community, and so many of those people have him to thank for – literally – having a roof over their heads. It’s only because of Dan, and caring attorneys like him, that this crisis has not reached Depression-era proportions.”
If not wanting to take much credit, McCranie does admit to getting a lot of satisfaction from his pro bono efforts, and even enjoying the challenge it presents.
“You really have to try to get creative with some of these cases,” he said.
When the big banks and giant law firms cannot be stopped and foreclosure is an imminent threat, that’s when McCranie tries to go the extra mile. In some cases, he has been able to collaborate with longtime contacts within the community to try to find alternative financing for eligible clients.
“In many of these cases, you can find private refinancing options,” he said. “And it makes sense for both the homeowner and the lenders, who stand to make more on their money this way than they ordinarily would.”
Dan McCranie runs his solo practice from his law offices behind the Nassau County Courthouse in downtown Fernandina Beach and Downtown Jacksonville in the Blackstone Building. He lives on Amelia Island with his wife, Sam, and is an avid boater and sport fisherman.
For more information on pro bono opportunities in the Fourth Judicial Circuit, contact Kathy Para, JBA Pro Bono Committee Chair at [email protected], 356-8371, ext. 363.
Pro bono that’s manageable. Pro bono that matters.