The lawyer's obligation to correct social injustice! June 20, 2011.

• Author: Gill, James F.
• Position: Company overview

Introduction I. Slavery and Racial Injustice II. Immigrants and Ethnic Injustice III. Labor Injustice IV. Women's Rights V. Helping the Poor VI. Caring for the Sick VII. Injustice in Our Prisons Conclusion INTRODUCTION

On March 7, 2006, I delivered a speech here at Fordham Law School to an audience of students from all of the law schools in the New York metropolitan area.

On that occasion, I lamented that while the practice of law had been an honorable profession when I started practicing in the 1950s, it had become, by and large, just another "bottom line" business. That speech is set forth in chapter sixteen of my recent book entitled, Rambling with Gill.

Rambling with Gill is dedicated to my friend, the late B.J. Harrington, who overcame enormous physical handicaps that were the result of being hit by an automobile while a young man. Despite those injuries, he went on to become an extraordinary lawyer and the chairman of the distinguished law firm of Bleakley Platt & Schmidt.

But he was much more than that--he was going away the finest Catholic layman I ever encountered.

Among many other things, he led the way in supporting the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center which seeks out, cares for, and comforts the most disabled children in the New York metropolitan area. B.J. did all of this quietly and without any expectation of or interest in self-aggrandizement.

Through B.J. and because of my granddaughter, Gillian, the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center has become my favorite charity and all of the money which Rambling with Gill generates in any form will go to that center.

My 2006 speech received widespread attention in the United States and abroad, and the overwhelming reaction was agreement that such was the case. Since then, I believe the situation has become even worse!

The most recent evidence is the establishment of the so-called "permanent associate" class of lawyers who work substantially less hours than the traditional associate, but receive far less in salary and benefits than the traditional associate and have no chance of ever becoming a partner.

I pointed out in my 2006 speech that there were exceptions; that there were some lawyers and some firms that still practiced the law as it was practiced before the profession morphed into a "bottom line" business.

I also discussed the ingredients that go into the making of the "great" lawyer and urged my fledgling audience to embrace them, in the face of an ever-mounting obsession to make money.

The purpose of this evening's speech is to supplement that earlier speech.

I believe that every lawyer, by virtue of the special training lawyers receive; the experiences they encounter in connection with the practice of law; the monopoly they enjoy in providing legal advice and appearing in our courts; and the enormous trust and confidence that society imposes upon them, have a duty and obligation to devote themselves in substantial measure, to correcting the many social injustices that exist in our society.

I am referring not just to lawyers who are judges, legislators or other public office holders but rather to all lawyers because all lawyers are duty bound to promote and protect justice in all areas and at every level of human conduct, no matter who they are or what they do. All lawyers, by definition, work "in the service of others."

The obligation of lawyers to correct social injustice is not by any means, a recent development, but rather goes back to the beginnings of law-based societies.

Michael A. Cardozo, the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, in a speech entitled, Rebuilding the City: The Opportunity to Help and the Obligation to Serve (delivered on January 26, 2003) said the following:

The obligation to help those less fortunate has always been a fundamental tenet of the legal profession. The early Roman Empire provided for "advisors to the poor." By the fifth century of the Common Era, clergy were mandated to provide legal counsel to those who lacked resources of their own. A fifteenth century statute of Henry VIII directed justices to appoint attorneys for poor people. Down through the years, many lawyers in this country have recognized their obligations to deal with injustices in our society and have carried out those duties magnificently, to the everlasting credit of our profession.

Let's turn to some of those social injustices and some of our legal heroes who have addressed them.

1. SLAVERY AND RACIAL INJUSTICE

   We have been beset with serious social injustices in this country from its beginning to the present day. One of the earliest and by far the most egregious was slavery, whereby African Americans were not regarded as human beings, but rather as chattels, to be bought, sold, and owned in accordance with that premise.

   The basic reason for the imposition of slavery was money, generated by the cotton industry. The slaves who worked in that industry were paid little or nothing, thereby enabling cotton owners to realize huge profit margins.

   That economic factor became a states' rights issue; the prospect of secession from the union emerged, and the bloodiest war in our history followed.

   Even after the abolition of slavery, African Americans were treated as second class citizens and were abused and scorned, simply because they were black, a pure accident over which they had no control.

   I will never forget my first visit to the Deep South in the summer of 1951, sixty years ago. I had joined a Marine Corps Officers program while attending Holy Cross College which required me to spend that summer at the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina.

   I boarded the train at the old Pennsylvania Station and was taken aback by what I experienced along the way--separate bathrooms and waiting rooms for blacks and whites at railroad stations; the word "nigger" becoming more and more prevalent as we went more deeply into the South; vendors treating African Americans purchasing their merchandise with disdain and sometimes refusing to deal with them at all.

   While stationed at Parris Island, sometimes we were able to visit nearby towns like Beaufort, South Carolina and cities like Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia on weekends.

   We witnessed firsthand conditions we had read and heard about, but never experienced. Public parks and schools were segregated. African Americans were not permitted to stay at hotels, eat at restaurants or lunch counters, and were required to ride in the backs of buses. There was an unspoken, but deeply seated, understanding that African Americans constituted a subclass in those communities which was universally accepted, even by the African Americans!

   The end result was that African Americans lived in filth and squalor in shacks without proper food or basic medical attention, no education, and with only menial jobs, if any at all. It was appalling.

   Nonetheless, I pursued the southern belles who lived in those areas with great vigor, but to no avail. Even my Marines Corps uniform was of no help. Finally, I...