Jim Crawford’s Law Blog

I wanted to touch base and comment on the article I read not long ago in the Daily Record. It solidifies what I have always known along with thousands of other lawyers in this country. That is, despite the fact lawyers are looked upon as leaders of the evil empire, we do come in handy sometimes when we are needed by individuls accused unjustly. Not only that, sometimes we do it for free….

Article

Maryland attorneys donated more than a million hours of pro bono legal services in 2003.

A new report by the Administrative Office of the Courts also found that 63.7 percent of the state’s full-time lawyers volunteered for pro bono services in 2003.

The term “pro bono” comes from the Latin phrase “pro bono publico,” meaning “for the public good,” and describes legal services donated to those who cannot afford to pay for them.

Maryland attorneys also donated $3.8 million in cash to support legal services in 2003, the report found.

The report, titled “Current Status of Pro Bono Service Among Maryland Lawyers,” actually showed a small decline in pro bono participation from the previous year. Among all 31,575 attorneys in the state, 47.4 percent volunteered for pro bono services in 2003, a decline of less than half a percent. The Administrative Office of the Courts attributed the decline to lawyers moving to other states and a decrease in pro bono service among part-time lawyers.

In 2002, the Maryland Court of Appeals began requiring attorneys in the state to report their pro bono hours to help them assess the availability of volunteer legal services for the poor and direct resources where they are most needed.

I think to properly put my website in perspective the following quote from H.L. Meinkan is entirely in order….

Lawyers

“All the extravagance and incompetence of our present Government is due, in the main, to lawyers, and, in part at least, to good ones. They are responsible for nine-tenths of the useless and vicious laws that now clutter the statute-books, and for all the evils that go with the vain attempt to enforce them. Every Federal judge is a lawyer. So are most Congressmen. Every invasion of the plain rights of the citizens has a lawyer behind it. If all lawyers were hanged tomorrow, and their bones sold to a mah jong factory, we’d be freer and safer, and our taxes would be reduced by almost a half.”
–H.L. Mencken (1880-1956), “Breathing Space”, The Baltimore Evening Sun, 1924 Aug 4. Reprinted in A Carnival of Buncombe.
Not that I agree with this statement in Toto, but there may be a grain of truth in there somewhere………….

What I am endeavoring to do with the publication of this message board is to shed some of my experiences and knowledge to individuals who may happen to be in a predicament where the reading of my written word may have some valued effect on their outlook of their case or situation. In other words, I hope it helps some people by comparing their situation with what I have written.

I invite everyone to post their stories, comments, opinions, outlook, and any other characterization of my written words. Lets see what happens……………..
Jim Crawford Jr.

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