Practice what you preach: power, paternalism, and the Christian lawyer for the poor.

• Author: Acevedo, Melanie D.
• Position: Religious Values and Poverty Law: Clients, Lawyers and Communities

INTRODUCTION

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." (1)

There was a time when lawyers were considered by many to be America's governing class, intellectually trained and socially positioned to provide leadership in our society and to seek the common good. (2) Although arguably undemocratic in tone and somewhat out of fashion, this characterization still resonates. One can hardly help but acknowledge the unsurpassed power of the attorney-laden Congress (3) in setting our national agenda and the critical role of the Federal and Supreme Court judiciary, whose power extends from the operation of industry (4) and the results of presidential elections (5) to the most intimate areas of our private lives. (6)

On a less national scale, individual lawyers wield their power as both saviors and villains, winning redress for the injured, vindication for the accused, and protection for the corporate mogul. Lawyers are simply able to do what others cannot do, and they do it almost entirely under the mantel of self-regulation, with neither public accountability nor, at times, public approval. (7) For compensation, lawyers receive hefty salaries and considerable social clout. (8) Whether we like it or not, lawyers have tremendous power.

Power, unfortunately, can have its price in a poverty law setting. When the lawyer, who is more than aware of her own social superiority, counsels and represents her poor client, she tends to affirm what society, and even the client, may already believe: namely, that poor people are, by definition, weak and in need of a lawyer or some other stronger person to take care of them. (9) Rather than being a competent person who is engaged in resolving his own issues and running his own life, poor clients are "something less, as children perhaps, or as broken objects needing to be fixed." (10) Even if the legal situation is successfully resolved, the client leaves the relationship knowing that it was the lawyer, not himself, who made the difference and that it will be the lawyer who will handle the next problem as well. (11) As one practitioner wrote, "The lawyer for poor clients is likely, whether he wins cases or not, to leave his clients precisely where he found them, except that they have developed a dependency on his skills to smooth out the roughest spots in their lives." (12)

Advocates for the poor have worked hard to overturn the lawyer's monopoly on power, and have, instead, sought to reshape the role of lawyers in poor communities. Some have suggested that lawyers for the poor should act entirely at the direction of their poor clients, regardless of the lawyers' own viewpoints or moral imperatives--a vision of the lawyer's role colloquially referred to as the "hired gun" model. (13) In other words, the "lawyer must help them do their thing [and do it their way], or get out." (14) Those who are less than comfortable with this "hired gun" mentality, either because it threatens their sense of moral autonomy (15) or because they fear it interferes with the larger goal of eradicating poverty, (16) suggest more of a partnership role for the lawyer. Under this paradigm, lawyers are to use their legal knowledge and skills, presumably obtained as a result of fortuitous placement in the socioeconomic structure, to engage and empower poor people and to rebuild poor neighborhoods. (17) The lawyer and client form a relationship in which the client brings goals and skills and the lawyer brings power and innovation. (18) Both lawyer and client contribute in this partnership and empowerment driven paradigm. (19)

Without this imperative for power-sharing, advocates insist, poverty lawyers relate to their clients in a way that is not only inappropriately paternalistic but is also ultimately defeating to both the client and the client community. (20) Underlying this highly client-centered, empowerment-based model of lawyering is the idea that a lawyer must somehow divest herself of her power while equipping the client to achieve the client's own goals. (21) She must create a partnership with a person whom almost everyone (including herself, if she is honest) regards as her inferior.

This idealized vision of the lawyer-client relationship has been largely unsatisfied, despite the best intentions of many in the profession. (22) Advocates today decry the same pervasive gap between the idea of power-sharing and the reality of everyday practice, just as did advocates a generation ago. (23) The concept has simply failed to take hold to any remotely universal extent. (24) As a result, the ongoing proposal of this model raises critical questions regarding the assumptions necessary to make the model attainable in a world where lawyers are chief among those with power and poor people are simply disregarded. (25)

How can a poverty lawyer function in a way that contravenes both societal role and, at least in some cases, client expectations? How can she restrain and redirect her own power with the aim of empowering her client and the client community? Ultimately, why would she even want to? And if she does, what would be the lawyer's necessary understanding of herself that would allow such a radical thing to happen, yet enable her to retain her own moral accountability?

This Essay will focus on the approach a Christian poverty lawyer can take to answering these questions. (26) This Essay will argue that because a lawyer's actions are ultimately based on what she believes about herself and her place in the world, (27) the Christian lawyer will begin her move away from paternalism and towards power-sharing. She will do this by embracing a Christian self-understanding and integrating that understanding into her work in the most significant ways possible. (28) Further, when she looks at power itself through a biblical lens, the Christian poverty lawyer sees a framework for practice that is radically different from that which her lawyer's training instilled in her. (29) Yet, that framework is attainable and sustainable because of its roots in her deepest beliefs. (30) In short, when the Christian lawyer practices what she preaches, she finds the resources necessary to relate to her client in accordance with her, and the profession's, highest aspirations. (31)

1. TOWARDS A CHRISTIAN SELF-UNDERSTANDING

   In many respects, of course, the Christian poverty lawyer lives and breathes the air of lawyer power. She has graduated from a prestigious institution, has been admitted to her state bar and has thereby won status as an officer of the court and an advocate for the disenfranchised. Whether her salary is high or--as compared to the big-firm lawyer--relatively low, she enjoys social position and a lifestyle that, by almost any measure, is enviable to her poor client. (32) She is regarded by others as competent, articulate, and powerful--maybe even as a hero of sorts. (33)

   But, when she is most introspective, how does she regard herself? The Christian poverty lawyer's view of herself, while not denying the very real external benefits of her position, relies on a Christian framework to radically transform popular notions of superiority and power. Rather than viewing herself as a hero, she may view herself as something else entirely.

   In response to biblical reflection, the Christian lawyer finds that, despite her social position, she lacks superiority over her poor client. She and her client are both broken people, recipients of God's mercy and yet unmerciful in their relationships with others. Further, the lawyer knows that she is merely one part of a larger community, and that her client, even if inferior by popular, social measures, is also an invaluable member with a God-given role in making the world a better place. Under such an understanding, the lawyer is, in the most meaningful way possible, no more than an equal to her client.

   Ultimately, she may be even less than equal, for when the lawyer understands and applies the biblical preference for the poor and the corresponding suspicion of social power and those who retain it, she consistently places herself in a position of vulnerable self-examination, wherein she questions the use of her power and the goals she pursues with it. Not only will this understanding be consistent with the Christian lawyer's deepest beliefs, but it will result in a lawyer-client relationship in which power is shared and paternalism is nearly impossible.

   1. The Christian Lawyer Knows She Is An Unmerciful Servant

      [T]he kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was notable to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

      His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?' (34)

      This parable of Christ captures two critical elements of human nature. The first is the desperate need of people for God's mercy. (35) The second is our quickness to be unmerciful to others, particularly when we are in a...