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| Dora Galacatos |
The adjunct professor and executive director of the Feerick Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law was recently honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Association of American Law Schools' Section on Pro Bono and Access to Justice.
For nearly two decades, Galacatos has led the Feerick Center in its mission to provide legal help to low-income New Yorkers in need. Through the center, she helped establish programs in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island that bring together law students, volunteer lawyers and unrepresented litigants in debt-collection cases. And she also co-administered the New York State Unified Court System's Attorney Emeritus Program, which has connected senior lawyers with legal aid opportunities resulting in more than 100,000 hours of pro bono service.
Here, Galacatos speaks with Law360 Pulse about why civil justice work helps an attorney's practice and how law firms can design and implement successful pro bono programs.
This interview was conducted Feb. 13 and has been edited for length and clarity.
What is the state of pro bono work in the U.S.? How has the changeover in federal power impacted pro bono work?
I can really only speak about pro bono from the perspective of my experience and my career, and I'm coming at this from a unique perch — a very privileged and blessed perch — in terms of doing a lot of this work at Fordham Law School, where dean after dean after dean has been wholly committed to access to justice and to our work.
I will say it's very early in the Trump administration, we're still in the "flooding the zone moment." Eventually the dust will settle a little bit. But, we are already seeing that the legal profession and the legal sector is a critical part of civil society. Certainly access to justice and pro bono initiatives are always critically important to the health of our democracy. But I think it's too early to assess how pro bono is responding to the moment. I will say I have a lot of faith in civil society. Lawyers have stepped up and shown up, both for marginalized and vulnerable individual people, but also to fight for foundational principles, ensuring that we have three co-equal branches of government. But we need everybody to show up.
Why is pro bono work an important part of any attorney's practice?
Part of our mission at Fordham is to leverage law student volunteers and have them see the power of pro bono and the difference that a lawyer can make when marginalized, unrepresented or otherwise vulnerable people are navigating complex legal processes. It is a privilege to be a lawyer and there's something profoundly compelling and moving about working with a client to help them assert their rights and access the remedies to which they're entitled. That work is life-changing for people. It's the difference between keeping your kids and not keeping your kids. It's the difference between keeping a roof over your head or ending up in a shelter. Pro bono for law students, when they're exposed to it, is truly transformative.
Part of my work has been creating programs that have exposed hundreds of students to different kinds of pro bono, and some decide to pursue civil legal services as a career. Other law students commit to making pro bono part of their law practice. It's better for our legal system when people have legal counsel because it results in fairer, more just outcomes and gives people more faith in the legal process.
We also leverage senior attorneys to engage in pro bono. They can be those at the pinnacle of their legal careers or those who are transitioning from full-time practice or have already transitioned. And that has also been an extremely rewarding part of my work and an incredible part of the work of the center. I often hear volunteers at the center say, "This is the most meaningful work of my career." That's because they're using their extensive counseling skills, knowledge and legal acumen to help someone navigate a difficult process at a difficult moment in their lives. That's why, for me, going to a legal clinic is the closest I get to going to church. It's the best of humanity showing up.
Are you drawn to any particular kind of pro bono work?
I'm not a client-facing attorney, I'm not a court advocate. I create programs. But I like it when my clients, for whom I provide limited-scope work, win and when I feel I've made a difference in the case outcome. It doesn't always happen because you don't always win, but it is awfully satisfying when you do win or when your client wins and you had a role in it.
I had an opportunity to work with a small number of asylum-seeking families that experienced family separation during the first Trump administration. Those were heart-wrenching cases that I will never forget. Being able to say, "We're here, and we represent a different aspect of the United States," can be powerful.
How can attorneys find pro bono work that "speaks" to them?
I analogize it to dating. Most of us don't find our committed partner after the first date, and it does take some perseverance and some patience and some experimentation. There are many different pieces to it. One is working on types of cases that you find satisfying or that you're passionate about. Another is finding a legal services organization or, if you're at a firm, working with pro bono professionals to connect with a legal services partner that has the infrastructure to leverage and deploy you in a way that is efficient, one where you're getting the appropriate training, technical support, supervision or counseling you need. And it also has to fit with your life, in terms of where you are and what you can manage. Maybe you want much shorter engagements and there are many brief service opportunities.
How can the industry make young attorneys excited about pro bono work?
In New York, former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman instituted a 50-hour pro bono requirement as a condition of admission to the bar. At the time, there were skeptics and critics of that requirement. But I think that was really a game changer. Students who may not otherwise have been exposed to different pro bono opportunities had that opportunity. We just have to make sure it's done right, with the infrastructure that I mentioned before: appropriate training, appropriate supervision, screening of cases. For example, in some cases, maybe what is needed is co-counseling.
How can law firms design and implement successful pro bono programs?
I have not worked at a law firm, but what is true for any good pro bono program is also true for law firms. You need to have all the pieces together — someone screening the cases, providing technical support, supervising, reviewing legal papers. Sometimes this expertise is already in-house at law firms.
One of the models that I've seen work really effectively is when bar associations team up with firms and legal service providers to tackle specific gaps in certain legal services, like cases involving veterans. That means the three work together to place cases and think about advocacy and litigation strategies. It's a win-win-win across the board, because they're in practice areas that are really underfunded. It can be a really effective model because everyone is bringing in their special resources and expertise. That is one approach that really adds a lot.
--Editing by Orlando Lorenzo.
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