Hon. Moses Harrison on Receiving the Illinois State Bar Association’s Access to Justice Award

[Editor’s note: With the author’s permission, we reprint the author’s remarks on accepting the Illinois State Bar Association’s Access to Justice Award at a luncheon in Chicago, Illinois, on February 1, 2001.]

I am truly honored to be here this afternoon, and I am even more honored to receive this award. This award means more to me than anyone will ever know. I am passionate about access to justice. I tried to do some pro bono work every day I practiced law.

It has been twenty-eight years now since I was first appointed to serve in the judiciary. Twenty-eight years. There are people in this room for whom that represents a lifetime. For me, it has passed in an instant. The courthouses where I sit have changed. Somewhere along the line I became a grandfather. I seem to recall that I used to have hair. But when I put on my robe and open court, I still feel as committed and as full of hope as I did that first day I took the oath of office in 1973.

People often ask how I see my role as a judge. My answer today is the same as it was twenty-eight years ago. It is to protect ordinary citizens against wrongdoing by the government, large corporations, and powerful individuals. When court is in session, it is an affirmation to me that there is hope for the system. Each time the gavel raps, each time the clerk calls the courtroom to order, it means a new opportunity to find justice and to carry it out.

Unfortunately the promise of justice remains elusive for many who need it most. The popular claim that we are overpopulated by lawyers and overburdened with frivolous lawsuits is born of myth. Empirical evidence suggests that Americans may be no more litigious now than they have been at various other periods in our nation’s history. Although the number of lawyers is rising in absolute terms, consider this. Despite the economic boom of the past decade, nearly 1,300,000 Illinoisans continue to live in poverty. To serve this population, there are fewer than 200 full-time legal aid lawyers. I’ll do the math for you. That is only 1 lawyer for every 6,500 poor people. By any standard, 1 lawyer for 6,500 people is not a glut. It is a scandal.

The myth that America is facing ruin at the hands of lawyers serves a purpose. But it is not a purpose we can abide. By discrediting the legal profession and the legal process, by stigmatizing litigants and the claims they advance, the myth dissuades people from seeking redress for the wrongs they have suffered. It also distorts the views of jurors who consider the cases which are filed. Their judgment is replaced by cynicism. Their experience is tainted by unwarranted suspicion. Verdicts become harder to achieve. Meritorious claims are compromised or abandoned. As a result, the blameworthy escape blame, and the unscrupulous are able to evade responsibility for their actions.

If you really believe we have too many lawyers, think of the elderly nursing home resident whose medical assistance is in jeopardy, or the abused spouse in need of an order of protection. Think of the impoverished single mother facing the shutoff of her utilities because she could not afford to pay for groceries and still cover her skyrocketing heating bills. Think of the immigrant family members overcharged for their used car because their English is not good enough to understand the terms of their purchase contract, or the homeless family members struggling to find shelter and stability for their children. Think of the special-needs student whose school district refuses to provide the educational resources mandated by law, or the critically ill worker whose HMO declines to authorize specialized treatment necessary for his recovery because it is too expensive.

There are no legions of lawyers to help these people. In a well-known Yale Law Journal article discussing the moral foundations of the lawyer-client relationship, Charles Fried spoke of the “lawyer as friend.” If that description is apt, these people have no friends. As meritorious as their claims may be, the only way they are likely to secure representation is through dumb luck or happenstance. That is not the way it should be. When justice is accessible to only the privileged few, it is no justice at all.

The need for universal access to lawyers and the courts is not some abstract moral aspiration. It is a social and political imperative. American society is premised on the promise that each of us is equal under the law. Such equality is impossible if people do not have a voice to speak for them in the courts of law. Attorneys are that voice. They are the only voice. If ordinary people cannot enlist the aid of lawyers when they need to, if the judiciary becomes a tool available only to the wealthy and powerful, the courts will become a source of oppression instead of what they should be: a sanctuary for the oppressed. Their legitimacy will be lost. Society will be divided, and those on the outside will respond they only way they can: by taking the law into their own hands. We cannot risk such upheaval. President Kennedy made the point bluntly: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”

Because of the pivotal role legal services plays in our nation’s society and political health, we cannot afford to view legal aid and pro bono work as charity. In saying this, I do not mean to deprecate the generosity of bar members who give so much of their time to others without any thought of compensation. Willingness to provide pro bono representation is one of the finest attributes of our profession. Nothing is more high-minded or laudable.

The problem regarding legal assistance as charity is that charity implies an act of grace that can be bestowed or withheld at the benefactor’s whim, an act that need not necessarily be repeated. When it comes to legal access, that will not do. If we are ever to realize the promise of equal justice under the law, access of the judicial system cannot depend on the vagaries of personal benevolence. It must be certain and automatic, available to whomever needs it, whenever one needs it, as a matter of course.

The small group of legal aid lawyers has found this truth already. It is one important reason why the legal aid lawyers are doing the work they are doing. But they are already doing all they can. We cannot ask them to do more.

If there is to be change, it is up to the rest of us. There are more than 76,000 other men and women who hold law licenses in this state. Working together under the leadership of organizations such as the Illinois State Bar Association, we can make a difference. We can build on the accomplishments of the early pioneers of legal services for the poor. Each of us has something important to contribute. Each of us can help bring the goal closer. It is our moral and professional duty. As lawyers, we have no higher calling.

At the beginning of these remarks I mentioned that I tried to do some pro bono work every day in my practice. I have never mentioned this fact publicly before, but I do so now because I challenge all Illinois lawyers to do the same. Then we truly will have access to justice in this state.

Moses W. Harrison II recently retired as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois.

Clearinghouse Review | MAY-JUNE 2001 | Journal of Poverty Law and Policy

For more articles by the National Poverty Law Center visit their website.
Hompage: http://www.povertylaw.org
Articles: http://www.povertylaw.org/legalresearch/articles/clearinghouse.cfm

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