Weekly Blog #23

This week I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with the attorneys and philanthropic coordinators that lead the Serve Denton project. My mentor, Ms. Dianne Carlson, was kind enough to introduce me to some of the attorneys at the meeting and I was able to observe and soak up every last detail from the conversations taking place; I then took the time to write an my first “observatory” assessment over the whole experience. I felt that this was an amazing learning experience for me, in that I was able to witness, first-hand, the brainstorming process of a team of lawyers, discussing a central issue. I was able to see how certain ideas were brought to the table and how holes were poked in other ideas concerning the legality of it. I learned that it is extremely important to fine-tune the legality of a venture, especially when it is dealing with a collection of pro bono services (legal, medical, etc.).

For example, after some discussion over the organization and funding took place, my mentor, Ms. Carlson, stepped in to contribute her legal expertise. She wisely pointed out that she was noticing some areas that could be potential legal liabilities for the organization. For example, she mentioned that the aspect of providing pro-bono legal advice to the people, could potentially lead to a lawsuit over malpractice-- and if it does, it would become a detriment, simply because legal malpractice insurance does not cover pro-bono work. I thought this was a very interesting and valid point to recognize. Ms. Carlson then went on to discuss possible solutions by explaining that as a solo-practitioner, she has an individual malpractice insurance that covers only her and lawsuits from her own clients. This could be a potential solution to the present issue. However, another remedy would be to redefine the “legal advice” by calling it “legal education”, thereby freeing themselves from any potential malpractice lawsuit because none of the people would be technically be considered their “clients”.