by Mauricio Vivero

Gov. Barnes Punches In At Legal Aid
Georgian sets pro bono example for fellow attorneys

Of all the dilemmas to have, the one facing Executive Director Steve Gottlieb of LSC-funded Atlanta Legal Aid Society (ALAS) in January was, “Where do we put the Governor?”

In the surprise of Election Day 2002, popular incumbent Governor Roy Barnes lost his re-election bid in Georgia. Almost as surprising, but more encouraging, was his announcement of what he planned to do upon leaving office: spend six months as a full-time volunteer lawyer at ALAS helping low-income Georgians with civil legal problems. Barnes was so excited to go to work for legal aid that he held a planning meeting with ALAS leaders in his last week as Governor. He began arranging client conferences, staff briefings, and calls with cooperating counsel while he was still signing bills and delivering speeches in his final days in office. 

“He came in a little earlier than we expected, and we didn’t have an office ready for him yet,” confesses Gottlieb. “We didn’t expect him for another couple of weeks, but there he was… He brought in his own laptop ready to work, so we gave him the office of someone who was on leave.”

Barnes’ decision to recommit to basic lawyering could not have come at a more critical juncture. These are tough times for the national legal services community—times when public interest advocates are able to serve the legal needs of only one in five of the more than 43 million Americans whose annual incomes ($11,225 or less) qualify them for free federal civil legal assistance. 

While recent trends indicate pro bono participation is improving, only an estimated one-fourth of the country’s one million lawyers volunteer an hour of pro bono time. Large law firms are already pledging to do more, but unless more attorneys give of their time, legal aid providers will continue to turn away poor clients with pressing, even life-threatening, legal problems. 

The inaccessibility of the U.S. civil justice system is hardly a new development, but it has taken Governor Barnes’ actions to put the problem in the spotlight. Gottlieb finally found Barnes permanent quarters in his building. The Governor’s office is located, appropriately, in the Senior Citizens Law Project area. As a frequent pro bono volunteer while in private practice, Barnes helped many poor seniors for no charge. His most high-profile pro bono case concluded in 1993, when Barnes, in collaboration with Atlanta Legal Aid’s home defense program, secured a $115-million judgment against Fleet Finance for victimizing some 18,000 homeowners with its widespread predatory lending mortgage practices. 

The first case Director Gottlieb put on his new employee’s desk is similar: a loan company charging exorbitant rates for loans that exploit the vulnerable. Barnes has cracked down on organizations like the Stewart Finance Company before. He will argue that Stewart Finance violated the Industrial Loan Act and the Georgia Fair Businesses Practice Act by soliciting seniors and the disabled to enroll in a “special program for Social Security recipients.” Gottlieb says the “special program” includes mandatory arbitration clauses, a provision requiring customers to send Stewart Finance their Social Security checks to pay off their loans at the highest rates allowed by law, and requirements to purchase car-club memberships or accidental dismemberment policies.

“To say that it was a lopsided agreement is to put it mildly,” Gottlieb says. “The company could sue the clients, but they couldn’t sue the company.”

Barnes—honored in March with the John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Award for risking his political career to change the Georgia flag—has settled two predatory lending cases since arriving at ALAS and is now working on four similar cases, in addition to the Stewart Finance litigation and a project that assists disabled children in obtaining special education. (His daughter is a special ed teacher.) In the spirit of all good volunteer lawyers, Barnes has asked for no recognition or special treatment while working at ALAS. He was, however, on a first-name basis with virtually the entire office within days of starting his new job. Barnes goes to work every morning, takes a seat in his 10x10 office, and works to make Georgians lives better. 

“He comes in 9 to 5,” Gottlieb says. “He has no special secretary, no special receptionist, no special equipment. There’s been no superstar quality to this at all. That’s exactly what it’s not.”

What it is, in fact, is a shining example for the entire Bar. Governor Barnes’ decision to volunteer at his local legal aid office is also an undeniable endorsement of the high-quality services Atlanta Legal Aid Society offers. Barnes could have gone to work anywhere after the election, but he chose ALAS. 

In the end, the more attorneys who follow Governor Barnes’ pro bono path, the closer we will come to seeing America make good on its pledge to provide “justice for all.”