1 1 ADDRESS BY ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO 2 TO 3 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BAR WINTER CONVENTION 4 5 6 7 Wednesday, March 6, 1996 8 9 10 11 Washington Convention Center 12 Exhibit Hall A 13 900 9th Street 14 Washington, D.C. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 (1:00 p.m.) 3 ATTORNEY GENERAL RENO: Thank you very, 4 very much. It is a very special privilege for me 5 to be here with you today because so many of you 6 in your bar have made me feel so welcome and have 7 been such strong support the three years I have 8 been Attorney General and I am deeply grateful to 9 you. 10 One of the people who has been the 11 strongest support is Jack Keeney 12 and I am so proud to be here today to see you 13 honored. I know of no lawyer more deserving. 14 Even when I was in Dade County, I heard the words 15 Jack Keeney, and that's certainly been true 16 through the years. 17 One month ago I announced to the House 18 of Delegates the President's new executive order 19 on civil justice reform. One of the centerpieces 20 of that order is the requirement that all Federal 21 agencies develop appropriate programs to 22 encourage and facilitate pro bono legal and other 23 volunteer services by government employees, 24 including attorneys, to be performed on their own 25 time as permitted by law. 3 1 This is a wonderful city. I've had the 2 opportunity to walk it and explore it and to know 3 its history and its beauty. But I've also had 4 the chance to see the terrible plight of many 5 public and private institutions in the District 6 of Columbia. Government funded providers as well as 7 private service providers are facing financial 8 crises. Our poorest citizens and especially 9 their children are bearing the brunt of this very 10 difficult time. 11 Even in the past when financial times 12 were better, the combined efforts of legal 13 service providers, law school clinics, and pro 14 bono attorneys have met less than 20 percent of 15 the legal needs of the District's poor. We are 16 now facing an even greater challenge. 17 I applaud the leadership and the vision 18 of the four chief judges of the Federal and 19 District of Columbia courts who convened a 20 meeting of the largest law firms in the city to 21 discuss the crisis in legal services. This bar 22 association has been exemplary in developing new 23 strategies to expand pro bono resources. I know 24 that many firms have answered this call--all in 25 the highest tradition of our profession and I 4 1 have watched some of you directly in action with 2 great admiration. 3 Being a lawyer is not merely a 4 vocation. It is a public trust and each of us 5 has an obligation to give back to our 6 communities. And indeed, lawyers have so very, 7 very much to contribute. In this noblest spirit 8 of our profession, in response to the President's 9 mandate, and in order to join with the private 10 bar here which is so generously responding to the 11 call for more pro bono resources for the District 12 of Columbia, I am very pleased to announce today 13 the Department of Justice's pro bono policy. 14 We will encourage and support efforts 15 by department employees to provide pro bono legal 16 and volunteer services within their communities 17 that are consistent with applicable Federal 18 statutes and regulations governing conflict of 19 interest and outside activities. While service 20 in the Department of Justice is itself one of the 21 highest forms of public service, the Department 22 further strides to increase access to justice for 23 all and to strengthen our communities. 24 And I would like to pay special 25 recognition to the lawyers of the Department of 5 1 Justice with whom I've had a chance to work. I 2 have a special mission while I am Attorney 3 General and when I leave this office and that is 4 to let this nation and its people know how many 5 dedicated men and women work with them and for 6 them in the Department throughout this country. 7 We are encouraging all Department 8 employees based on the ABA model rules of 9 professional responsibility to set a personal 10 voluntary goal of at least 50 hours per year of 11 pro bono legal and volunteer service. This 12 policy extends to all Department employees and 13 encourages all kinds of volunteer work, legal and 14 nonlegal. 15 We have already begun to explore with 16 the D.C. Bar ways in which Justice Department 17 employees can add our efforts to addressing the 18 unmet legal needs in the District. We will 19 establish a pro bono and volunteer services 20 committee within the Department chaired by a high 21 level official from the Office of Policy 22 Development with representatives from all offices 23 and components. 24 This committee will develop pro bono 25 opportunities to complement our existing 6 1 volunteer services program and make them known to 2 all our lawyer and nonlawyer employees. Our 3 policy of encouraging pro bono and volunteer work 4 extends to all the United States attorney's 5 offices across the country. 6 As part as our efforts to provide 7 assistance to the District of Columbia, we are 8 developing a special program with the Office of 9 Corporation Counsel. Deputy Attorney General 10 Jamie Gorelick and Corporation Counsel Chuck Ruff 11 are both here to describe that program to you. 12 The Justice Department is very pleased to join 13 you in pro bono service. 14 I thank you all for the great work that 15 the D.C. Bar and its members are doing and I 16 would now like to introduce you to one of your 17 own, a person who has become my great friend and 18 a splendid deputy, Deputy Attorney General Jamie 19 Gorelick. 20 21 22 23 24 25 Remarks for the Deputy Attorney General D.C. Bar Luncheon Announcement of Assistance to Corporation Counsel Wednesday, March 6, 1996 12:30 p.m. Thank you. It is always an honor to rejoin the D.C. Bar for occasions like this one. The Attorney General means every word of her endorsement of community service. She demonstrates her commitment by devoting several hours a month of her own very precious time: she has adopted a public elementary school in the District and schedules regular visits with the students there. She reads to the children, and has taught them science and history classes. During her most recent visit, she conducted a class on the importance of black history month. Her service is a model for all of us to follow. As Newt Gingrich stated last year: "Real leadership starts by setting the agenda and by being a symbol of what matters. For example, Attorney General Reno going to visit the schools is a very good thing to do. It's symbolically powerful." Thanks to the Attorney General's example, we have broad bipartisan support for our pro bono efforts. As part of the Department's contribution to the District, I am pleased to announce a plan to provide assistance to the District of Columbia Office of Corporation Counsel. Corporation Counsel Chuck Ruff is performing a marvelous service to the District of Columbia by making the most of his many connections to private law firms and federal officials to bring new resources and support to Corporation Counsel. Chuck approached me several months ago with a plea for assistance. After hearing about the inadequate resources and tremendous infrastructure needs of his office, I agreed to explore ways in which the Department could share its resources and expertise to assist Corporation Counsel, consistent with our ethical guidelines and resource limitations. We have identified several means of assistance that I believe will go a long way toward improving Corporation Counsel's ability to provide quality legal services to the District. First, we will help improve Corporation Counsel's office infrastructure. The Department is sending technical experts to review Corporation Counsel's computer systems and provide guidance on the costs and feasibility of installing appropriate software, electronic and voice mail systems, and network servers for personal computers. We are prepared to share the Department's case management systems and related software to enable Corporation Counsel to record and track caseload information more effectively. We are also providing twenty surplus standalone personal computers and a dozen laptop computers to the office. These resources will make all Corporation Counsel attorneys more efficient, and the improvements in the office's computer and communications networks will be particularly valuable management tools. Second, the Department will help improve training for Corporation Counsel attorneys. Our training experts will help design basic and advanced level training courses for Corporation Counsel attorneys. In addition, Corporation Counsel attorneys will be able to enroll in Justice Department training classes and share our extensive training videotape collection. Third, we will encourage Justice Department attorneys to provide time and expertise to Corporation Counsel. In an effort similar to the pro bono program that Mr. Ruff has developed with the law firms -- which he explained to some of you in yesterday's presentation -- we will encourage Justice Department attorneys to take certain cases on a pro bono basis for Corporation Counsel. We will also recruit a small number of attorneys who are interested in gaining litigation experience to take on individual civil litigation matters for the Office, which has a far greater caseload than it can handle. Finally, we can offer guidance in particular cases or areas of need where Justice Department's expertise is strong. These steps will build a partnership between the Justice Department and the Office of Corporation Counsel that will be tremendously beneficial to both partners and to the city. Corporation Counsel will receive badly needed assistance in critical areas, and the federal government will benefit from having a Corporation Counsel that functions well and supports the legal needs of the D.C. government and its citizens. I applaud Chuck for taking the initiative to ask the Department for this assistance and look forward to working with him in establishing this unique partnership. I now want to introduce a person with a long and distinguished career of service to the D. C. government and to this Bar: Corporation Counsel Charles Ruff. NOTE: The Deputy Attorney General may have departed from the prepared text. However, she stands by the text as printed.