Lawyers generally have a moral responsibility in representing clients and in choosing the methods by which their clients’ interests can best be preserved. Beyond this, there is an overriding moral premise that lawyers, having greatly benefited from the gift of a legal education and having been well equipped with useful skills, have an obligation to help the less fortunate in society.

This is the community foundation of legal ethics that requires a lawyer to be more than an officer of the court or guardian of the law, but also to possess the virtue of good character. A character through which he or she personally positively influences and affects people. The moment a lawyer who has integrity realizes how privileged he is to have been favorably placed in society, he is moved to do good. This is not to minimize the efforts each lawyer made to become who they are, but without the good fortune of being in a community where a lifelong gift of knowledge and insight can be imparted, those efforts might not have borne the expected results. . Why then shouldn’t we give back to that community that made it possible for us to be who we are today?

There is no doubt that we lawyers have had to endure widespread opprobrium over the years, as our profession and practice often make us look like the enemy. The image of lawyers is a topic of great debate, and more often than not, lawyers are the subject of criticism, both fair and unfair. Criticisms that are read about the legal profession often quote Shakespeare’s phrase: “The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers.” It is understandable that there can always be a negative image of lawyers, given that lawyers will continue to play a role in an adversarial system that produces winners and losers. The effect of this point of view, however, can be dissipated by our direct involvement in the community. This is not a defense of complicated or exaggerated participation. It is simply a call to help those less fortunate than us, with the most sincere desire. Until our focus turns to how we can capitalize on those abilities, skills, and motivations we possess to bring about good, we cannot expect much public adulation.

To generate good, therefore, lawyers need to get involved in the business of those who are disadvantaged. We have a responsibility to provide legal services to those who cannot pay. Attorneys who are already involved in pro bono legal services can testify that helping this group of people can be one of the most rewarding experiences in any attorney’s life. The reward ranges from the gratitude of the person you just pulled out of a tough situation to the formation of a paid, established relationship when the person’s story changes for the better.

For young attorneys who don’t always have the opportunity to handle things on their own due to the complexity of the law, pro bono work is beneficial. It not only feels good and gives a sense of satisfaction, it also gives experience and creates an avenue to exercise and develop skills and techniques that will later be used in matters of greater substance. As such, pro bono work confers an immediate benefit to young lawyers in both satisfaction and experience.

For more experienced attorneys, there may come a time in their legal careers when they begin to feel dissatisfied, uninspired, and bored. When they have boarded and conquered the legal world and amassed a huge fortune for themselves. The question ‘then what?’ begins to resonate in their minds. This is the time when they ask themselves if what they have been doing was really what they wanted to do. It takes much more to feel a sense of personal satisfaction and pride than material enrichment. Marshall Jones in his memoir, ‘A Lawyer’s Mid-Career Memoir’, acknowledged that despite having been involved in literally hundreds of business transactions and lawsuits, most of which fortunately involved the payment of legal fees, his fondest memories involved matters in which he won without charge. Her account of how she argued the case of Sarah Hoffman, a brave girl born without arms and with unusable lower limbs, before the Caddo Parish School Board that federal law required the School Board to provide handicapped access to physically challenged children. disabled is compelling and inspiring. .

Success in the legal profession should be understood less as related to the financial rewards of the practice and more as related to established relationships and lives that feel the touch of humanity through us. If your life in the legal profession does not have great purpose, it will not produce great joy. I implore everyone who can make a difference to not hesitate to make that decision today!

Bukola helen olusolade
LL.B, BL, LL.M,
[email protected]