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Money Is No Substitute for Pro Bono Service
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I was truly disappointed in Josh Sheptow's op-ed column.
From this bright young man, I would have hoped for a fuller understanding of and commitment to the ideals of personal service. On the last day of the year, I would have hoped for a short treatise on the individual growth that came from his interaction with the low-income clients served by the "elite lawyers" of the Volunteer Attorney Program. I would have even hoped for a short history of the decrease in funding for such desperately needed legal services since the administration of another Californian, Ronald Reagan.
Instead, I read an attack on the dedication and sacrifice of pro bono attorneys. More broadly, the article shows that Sheptow misunderstands the value of individual as well as corporate philanthropic service: the hours of giving one's personal (or the firm's billable) time and considerable talents to the public good, far aside from the 10-second, 37-cent process of mailing a donation to one's favorite charity. The range of technical legal skills provided is often needed by the range of clients affected in pro bono work. Who better to fend off predatory lending practices than the same fine firms that developed them in the first place?
Most of all, I would have hoped that Stanford University would have taught young Sheptow the value of living his commitment.
Checkbook philanthropy, just as checkbook journalism, is no substitute for the real thing.
-- Charles E. Countee
Washington
