Marshall urges lawyers to do more pro bono work, Legal, justice awards given

June 07, 2007 12:00AM

 

Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

By Mark Melady TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

mmelady@telegram.com

 

WORCESTER— Margaret H. Marshall, chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, last night urged lawyers to overcome “the enormous pressure” of amassing billable hours by offering more time and services to the poor, which she said was a lawyer’s highest calling.

 

“As lawyers we hold the key that opens the courthouse door,” Justice Marshall said, speaking at Tuckerman Hall after a reception for area lawyers who provided legal aid assistance during the year. “We all have a role to help the unfortunate. Helping to eradicate injustice is the most important work we as lawyers can do.”

 

Helping the poor with legal problems, “enhances the legal profession and fortifies the democracy,” Justice Marshall said. “Our willingness to secure equal access to justice speaks volumes about the dignity and fairness of our Constitution.”

 

She said America offers considerably less in legal aid to the poor than other Western democracies.

 

“America gives $1 per citizen in legal assistance,” she said. “France gives $2 per citizen and Great Britain $15 per citizen.”

 

The need for legal aid has been made even greater by the influx of immigrants who are often fearful of America’s legal system.

 

“Access to justice is a vital path that connects the rule of law to the public confidence in our system of justice,” said the first woman to hold the state’s chief justice seat.

 

She cited the work of Worcester natives Levi Lincoln and George F. Hoar to secure the rights of minorities, “two Worcester lawyers who changed history.”

 

Mr. Lincoln, a governor, U.S. attorney general and abolitionist, won many slavery cases, including the freeing of Quork Walker, which effectively ended slavery in Massachusetts. Mr. Hoar, a U.S. senator in the 19th century, opposed the Chinese exclusion act that prohibited immigration here from China.

 

A native of South Africa who led a student group opposed to apartheid, Justice Marshall noted that John Adams advocated the rule of law, not men, in the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution. A Yale Law School graduate, she became a U.S. citizen in 1978 and worked for many years as a private lawyer in Boston.

 

Justice Marshall congratulated the pro bono award winners honored last night, including: lawyer Ray Mestre, advocate of the year; Janice G. Marsh and Janice J. Chiaretto, the Volunteer Lawyers Service Award; Thomas J. Donahue, Lawyer for the Day Award; and lawyer Mary W. Olsson, the Honorable Harry T. Zarrow Homeless Advocacy Project Award.

 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Justice Marshall said, “for the good work you have done. Each has shown yourself to be a role model.”

 

John A. Shea, president of the Worcester County Bar Association, announced that in the coming year the bar association would challenge area law firms to increase their pro bono work.

 

“We must help those who need our help to provide their basic human needs,” Mr. Shea said.