Recruiting Christian Lawyers and Law Students, Coordinators, Core Groups and Volunteers

 

The recruitment of lawyers is the most challenging of the issues involved in setting up a Christian Legal Aid clinic.  The starting point for successful recruitment comes from the Biblical foundation for this work.  A Christian’s obligation to care about justice for the poor is manifest through both the Old and New Testament. Scriptural verses dealing with this subject are far too numerous for citation here. Representative, however are the following:

Proverbs 28:27  He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.

Proverbs 29:7  The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.

Proverb 31:8-9  Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Psalms 140-12  I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.

Ps. 82:3,4  Vindicate the weak and the fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and destitute, rescue the weak and needy, deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.

Jer. 22:16  He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy, then it was well.

The phrases instructing that we “defend rights,” “do justice” and “plead causes” appear to be directed  chiefly to lawyers whose training, experience and practice is centered upon these concepts.

A compelling argument for the Christian Lawyer’s responsibility to care about justice for the poor is made by Christian Legal Society attorney Stephen S. Duggins of the Chattanooga, Tennessee law firm of Stophel & Stophel, P.C.:

God does not mince words about the Christian obligation to provide legal assistance to the poor. Proverbs 29:7, is painfully blunt: “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” Given the complexity of the present American Legal System, most agree that “justice for the poor” requires that the poor have access to competent counsel.  While the assistance of counsel does not guarantee justice, it does seem to be at least a prerequisite to justice.  To be sure, Proverbs 29:7 also means much more than that, but that is part of its meaning.  There are numerous scriptural passages dealing with God’s concern for justice and with Christian obligations to seek justice.  Proverbs 29:7 is so forceful, and so difficult to avoid.

Recruitment usually starts with one or two committed persons who pray together and make personal telephone calls, office visits, or other face-to-face meetings with colleagues who are acquaintances or with whom they have some type of relationship. These make similar contacts with two or three others until a sufficient number have been recruited (usually 8-12, including law students or paralegals, for a medium-sized clinic)  In virtually every community where there are a substantial number of Christian lawyers and law students, God has often prepared the hearts of those necessary to get started.. But it takes both commitment and persistence to discover who those are.

Such personal contacts are what is almost always required.  We can trust God to convince a number of them that justice for and service to the poor is: 

  • one of God’s main priorities of service for lawyers and law students; 

  • a service that any lawyer or law student (no matter how narrow or limited his/her practice or class in law school) can readily be trained to serve by attending the remarkable CLS training course which you can conduct in a self-taught easy-to-use six to eight-hour session using simple CLS training practice materials and forms;

  • one of the most rewarding of all professional experiences for volunteers.

Attempts to set up recruitment and other meetings dealing with Christian Legal Aid from busy lawyers, law students, legal assistants and paralegals have shown that a mailing alone will produce very poor results. The only really effective way we have found of getting them out to such meetings is to (1) pray first and (2) to make follow-up personal calls or telephone calls of invitation, preferably by someone (not a secretary) who has a personal relationship with that person, and (3) another follow-up with a telephone call a day or two before the actual event.  This is time consuming, but we have found nothing else that really works!

Because our experience is that more than three-fourths of those who sign statements of interest will ultimately show up for a later training session and that approximately 95% of those who take the training end up actually signing commitments to become volunteers in a clinic during or at the conclusion of the training program, the initial recruitment process is important.

 Formal Recruitment


Opportunities for formal recruiting will probably vary from a brief insert (15 to 20 minutes) into a program devoted primarily to some other purposes to a more formal, specialized presentation that may last as long as an hour.  Lack of motivation is often the largest single problem that is faced. Important motivational tools are Biblical commandments, testimonies, records of real-life impact on lives by Christian legal aid clinics and first-hand exposure to persons who have benefitted from these and other ministries of the sponsor. Thus, the recruitment suggestions that follow are intended to take advantage of the various opportunities mentioned above and to place emphasis on these main motivational factors. The place where the sponsor actually serves its clientele is often the most effective place for such a meeting if the sponsor has a room adequate for such purpose.

One Hour Recruitment Meeting


Such meetings are usually held either at lunch or breakfast. The chairperson of the Christian legal community core group should ordinarily preside, with the assistance of the Christian legal community coordinator for special parts of the clinic, if these have been previously selected; otherwise the person convening the meeting will preside.

Item

      


Minutes

      

Subject


1.

    Welcome and opening prayer.

 

       
2.   10    Introduction of legal community core group, coordinator and other key persons participating from the Christian legal community if previously selected.  Ask each of the prospective volunteers to identify themselves and say something briefly about themselves.
         
3.     Describe the proposed or a possible Christian legal aid clinic generally, its purposes, and suggested operations for approximately 7 or 8 minutes including training of volunteers and desk reference manual aid.  Bring along and pass out pictures of the facility, staff members, guests and others being served by the clinic
         
4.   10    Introduce sponsor’s executive director or president for a 10-minute presentation and testimonies or alternatively some of the testimonies attached.  Suggestions for sponsor’s presentation and testimonies are attached.
         
5.   10   Questions and Answers.
         
6.   8   Distribute sign-up sheets (sample copy attached).  Always read through sign-up sheet with guests and encourage them to consider signing up at that time if they are ready to do so.  Encourage all interested persons to check the box as an interviewer and if possible, a core member and leave it at the meeting.  Emphasize this is not a commitment, but rather an expression of interest.
         
7.   1   Closing prayer; thanksgiving for meeting, for guidance of guests in responding to possible services as volunteer, etc.  Encourage guests to stay for a time of fellowship.


 

Short Presentation


If your only opportunity is a brief presentation, it is suggested that you discuss key parts of Items 2, 3 and 4, distributing a simple expression of interest card with an invitation to interested prospective volunteers to attend a more complete scheduled presentation.