Let’s repair the divide between lawyers and the public

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow's excellent guest column, "Dissolving legal barriers," in the February 20 and 21 Daily Journal reminded me of personal experiences that relate to his thesis that we lawyers and judges need to do a better job of communicating with each other, and with the public.

When I got out of law school, I was lucky enough to get a job as a trial judge's law clerk. Besides getting to work with a kind and able judge and his staff (the courtroom deputy clerk and judge's secretary were really in charge), I got to see things "from the bench," from which the judge made a point of using plain English and explaining our procedure to litigants. It is the best job I've had so far, and I recommend such clerkships (and those with appellate courts) to younger lawyers.

As a result of my clerkship (and bar association and law school alumni events with judges), I believe I've had a better idea of the relative isolation in which judges do their job, and their desire to keep in touch with those of us in the "outside world."

On a less altruistic note, after the clerkship I got a job in a good law firm, and was later told by a senior partner that I got the job over other candidates because I knew a lot of people in the clerk's office.

Years ago I also briefly served as a pro tem judge in small claims court in Oakland. I don't know if they do that anymore, but it was an eye opener. When I arrived for the first time, the deputy clerk, a gentleman much larger than I, announced that we would be done at noon, which I knew from my clerkship experience was tantamount to an order!

In one case I still recall, my clerkship civil procedure training came in handy. A litigant sued the city in small claims court seeking to overturn a zoning decision of the city council. I "ruled" that I did not have jurisdiction to entertain such a challenge, and tried to explain why in plain English, but after the hearing was cornered by the litigant in the clerk's office, because he was not satisfied by my explanation. Still too much "legalese."

More recently, and for several years, I have volunteered at the Bar Association of San Francisco's Legal Advice and Referral Clinic, where virtually anyone can line up on a Saturday morning and get 15 minutes of legal advice from a lawyer, and possibly a referral to another volunteer lawyer who will talk with them about taking their case. Many other bar associations around the state provide the same or similar services.

Most of the clients at these clinics are, as Judge Karnow notes, "most acutely" affected by "the great divide between the public and the legal system," and in many cases, listening and explaining is a lot of what we can do to help.

One client still stands out in my mind. She was a widow living on Social Security and a small pension from her late husband, who had received a multi-page letter, all in legalese, from the insurance company that managed the very modest pension. She didn't understand the letter, and was really scared that she was going to lose her apartment because she was going to lose her pension. I "interpreted" the letter, was able to tell her that it was a required notice of something that would not affect her pension benefits, and for some reason she believed me.

I actually got to see up close and in person the relief that information provided to her. When we parted, she asked me to stand up, came around the table, and gave me a big hug. In all my years in practice, mostly defending big business and the state of California, no client has ever given me more gratitude for being a lawyer. Needless to say, and although all clients have not been as rewarding as the one who gave me a hug, I highly recommend signing up to bridge the gap between the insular world of "the law" and our fellow, non-lawyer travelers who, whether they know it or not, depend on us to do our best to see that as many as possible understand and have access to what we do.

Which brings me to a final question: how to encourage us sometimes self-interested lawyers to jump on the band wagon? My current idea is MCLE. That is, maybe someone "in the know" can figure out how we who need MCLE credits to keep our licenses active can get them for, as Judge Karnow puts it: "repairing the divide between the legal system and the public." There should be a way!