Getting Your Voice Heard

BLOOMINGTON -- George Boyle walked into a homeless shelter one evening to give a talk on housing law, but someone thought he was one of the shelter's residents.

That case of mistaken identity reinforced the idea to Boyle that not much separates him from his clients.

Boyle isn't your typical lawyer. He's a blues drummer who spent 10 years touring the country with various bands before law school.

Also, he takes his notes in Braille. He happens to be blind.

Unlike most other lawyers, Boyle doesn't charge hourly fees. He's the managing attorney of Bloomington's Prairie State Legal Services, working for elderly and low-income people at no cost to them.

His connection with those clients is especially strong since Boyle was twice a legal aid client himself earlier in life. That helped him "understand the importance of ... getting your voice heard, whether it be a dispute with the government or other people," he said. "I appreciate what it can mean to people."

Legal aid is a vital service, Boyle said. Domestic battery, wrongful evictions and elder and child abuse don't always happen to people who can afford to deal with them.

Prairie State takes cases like these after a careful screening process. Clients must demonstrate financial need and have cases that are crucial to meeting basic needs, like housing.

Prairie State, a not-for-profit corporation with offices serving 36 Illinois counties, receives about 25 percent of its funding from the government and 30 percent from United Way. The rest comes from legal groups, local fund raising and grants from organizations, such as the East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging.

Boyle's office serves Livingston, McLean, and eastern Woodford counties.

Boyle, who has worked at Prairie State for the past 12 years, said, "I feel more convinced of its usefulness and purpose and ability to help people each year."

The cases there, he added, are among the most rewarding a lawyer could win -- and the most heartbreaking he could lose.

Losing a case is all the tougher because Boyle feels it often begins a downward spiral for a client. For instance, a woman trying to leave an abusive relationship may lose financial security, have her electricity or water shut off, then have that history used to portray her as unstable in a child-custody battle, Boyle said.

"It's difficult when you have a meritorious case that you believe in ... to see that person let down by the system," he said.

So instead of dwelling on his losses, Boyle, a husband to wife Kathy and father to infant daughter Erin, tries to focus on his victories.

"When I have helped people keep their children where they might otherwise lose them, to me that's important," Boyle said. "They're long and involved cases, but when they have a positive outcome, it makes you feel good."

Win or lose, Boyle helps clients in other respects by referring them to organizations like PATH, a crisis hot line, or Neville House, a domestic violence shelter. "We're lucky in this community to have great social service, religious and community organizations," he noted.

Prairie State also relies on volunteers to help the one full-time and two part-time staff members. Its three attorneys work with local private lawyers to get pro bono representation for worthy cases that they themselves cannot take.

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