Director's Corner: John P. Cunningham of GULFCOAST LEGAL SERVICES Stetson University College of Law 2012 William Reece Smith, Jr. Public Service Award

Thank you, Dean Gardner and the Stetson College of Law, for this special honor. I would like to recognize my colleagues on staff and board members who are here tonight from Gulfcoast Legal Services, some of whom have worked with me for more than 25 years. They receive little recognition and all deserve an award. It is also good to see faculty members I have met in the past, and former colleague Professor Rebecca Morgan. I also met Judge Tommy Minkoff, who did a ton of pro bono cases for us before he became a judge. I would also like to recognize my wife of 42 years, Karen, who made it possible for me to attend law school and to follow my dreams and have a family. I would be remiss not to give a shout-out to our 16-year-old granddaughter, Tori, who keeps me informed about the latest trends in music and technology. She had the nerve to ask Mr. Smith for his autograph tonight, and he graciously gave it to her.

It is truly one of the highlights of my legal career to receive a recognition that bears the name of William Reece Smith, Jr., a Rhodes scholar who, over a 60-year career, has been a law professor, a successful lawyer renowned nationally and internationally as one of our best lawyers, who has been president of USF, president of the Florida Bar Foundation, and president of the American Bar Association. As president of the ABA, Reece Smith fought for the continued availability of Legal Services to the poor and through his leadership preserved the funding and existence of the Legal Services Corporation. Professor Michael Swygert, in his biography of Mr. Smith entitled A Consumate Lawyer, said that A he is a person of uncompromising integrity, competence and commitment to the legal profession and to the administration of justice.@ Thank you, Mr. Smith, for all you have done.

If I may, Dean Gardner, I would like to speak briefly to the Stetson students here tonight. I have been asked how I got into this field. I was drawn into Legal Services some 41 years ago when, as a second year law student, I enrolled in a civil clinic course at New York= s Legal Aid Society. I soon became aware of the hardships encountered by poor people in correcting simple errors or bureaucratic indifference and due process violations. I did unemployment, welfare and social security hearings. Similar problems with fairness exist today in many areas of administrative agency actions, despite the Goldberg v. Kelly decision. After the clinic I took a part-time job with Legal Aid, which led to employment after graduation. I worked in the main office in downtown Manhattan and in the Brooklyn office for the elderly, where one of the outreach sites was at the end of the boardwalk on Coney Island. I continued to learn daily about how badly people can be treated because of their poverty and about the need for access to attorneys. I left one of the oldest legal aid programs in the U.S. in 1981 to come to one of the newest, Gulfcoast Legal Services. While the practice of law in Florida has had some quirky aspects, the clients had problems that were the same. In 2004 our program took on responsibility for legal assistance to the large immigrant community in the region, where there is great need but little public sympathy or funding.

Today, with the foreclosure crisis and high unemployment and underemployment, too many persons cannot afford or obtain legal assistance. Estimates are that at least 80% of low income persons who need a lawyer have no access to one. Sadly, there is no full equal access to justice yet or on the horizon. Rights have been and will be lost, and as Reece Smith once said, A Remember that a right lost to one, is lost to all.@

So, to the students here tonight, I would urge you to consider that with the privilege to practice law comes the responsibility to bring your talent, training, ideas and ideals to make justice a reality for all segments of society. Whatever career path you choose in the legal profession, there will be opportunities for you to work with or support a legal aid or legal services organization, or to assist clients through a firm= s or your own pro bono projects. If you emulate Reece Smith, you will make a difference.

Thank you all very much.

 

Comments

[Orlando Defense Attorneys]

For the students of Stetson, you should feel glad to know you have such commitment and help to lead you in the right path of success.