Time to get serious about all this helping people stuff

For years, the legal communities in Utah and elsewhere around the country have talked about the unmet needs of "low-bono" or "modest-means" clients - euphemisms for families making between 125% and 300% of the federal poverty level (the federal poverty level is really an inadequate basis to use for measuring financial need for a variety of reasons, but that is a topic for another day). All the talking has not been completely fruitless, though. Utah now plays host to numerous free advice clinics serving people who fall within that demographic. The Utah courts run an excellent self-help clinic to assist pro-se (without an attorney) clients conduct legal research. Utah Legal Services, one of the incumbent nonprofit firms dedicated to serving indigent (below 125% of federal poverty level) clients throughout the state, hosts an extensive online resource library for pro-se people who don't qualify for representation. But while all these programs have undoubtedly done a great deal of good in the state, they cannot completely meet the legal needs of the "middle half" (the half of the population that falls between "indigent" and approximately 400% of federal poverty). This is because each of these programs basically provide tools for clients who are willing and able to do everything themselves. As anyone who has tried to hold down a full time job and take care of their family can attest, there is very little time left in the day to get all the housework done, let alone manage complex and often arcane legal processes. In addition, courts are becoming overwhelmed by the flood of pro-se clients who don't have the knowledge and experience to easily guide their case through the labyrinthine legal system.  
The Utah State Bar has recently attempted to address this need by creating an innovative program similar to a pro-bono referral network, only targeted toward members of the "middle half." The program is called the Modest Means Referral Program, and for a $25 fee, the Bar will connect clients who can prove they fall within the income and asset guidelines with an attorney who has expressed willingness to serve such clients for no more than $75 per hour. But this program, too, has its limits. The Bar is not in a position to aggressively push its program, and is bound by its own fairly strict asset and income limits. Someone who has too much money in savings could be disqualified from the program, even if they are right on the cusp of poverty. Further, the $25 administrative fee can be harsh for someone who only needs an attorney for a half-hour consultation, effectively amounting to a 66% surcharge on such matters.
While the Bar's Modest Means program is without a doubt a huge step forward in serving the underserved "middle half" of Utahns, it was never intended to be the final step. Members of the board that oversees the program have been quite up front with me that the only reason for the program's existence was that nobody else in the private marketplace was taking care of the need. Until now, that is. My intrepid partner Shantelle Argyle and I have taken a bold new approach to this long unmet need. As many of my friends and family members now know, we have founded a law firm called Open Legal Services. It is unlike any law firm that has ever existed in Utah. It is a nonprofit, but while every other nonprofit law firm in Utah is funded by grants from private and government sources, Open Legal Services is funded 90% by client fees. In this respect, the firm is more like a private law firm. However, unlike a private law firm that charges between $150-$400 per hour and often requires hefty retainers, Open Legal Services never charges more than $125 per hour, and for most clients, much less. This is because the firm charges clients on a sliding scale based on income. As an example, a client who is single with no children who makes $20,000 per year would pay $40 per hour for representation. A married couple making $35,000 between them would pay $55 per hour. A family of four with two adults and two children making $65,000 between them would pay $75 per hour. The full breakdown can be found at  the firm's website.. Right now, the firm only advertises its services in family law and criminal defense, but the attorneys may be willing to take other kinds of cases depending on complexity.Open Legal Services' unique new business model, combined with its nonprofit status, position the firm to be exactly the kind of market-based solution that the Modest Means Program was developed for want of. In other words, Open Legal Services is the next evolution of the legal marketplace.
Other markets and professions have undergone similar changes. Thirty years ago, nobody but the very rich maintained their own individual portfolios of stocks and bonds. Then along came the mainstream commercialization of mutual funds, and the realization by firms like Fidelity Investments, Vanguard, and Schwab that there was a worthwhile market in the mainstream of society. Today, most people own some form of stock or bond investment, even if it is only in a company 401k or an IRA. Anybody with $100 can go out and open a trading account, and start trading stocks and bonds. There are dangers of this democratization of the financial markets, as the dotcom crash reminded us, but such is the danger of democracy: power comes with risk and responsibility in equal measure. 
The legal marketplace is long overdue for such a revolution. To butcher a Jefferson quote, the tree of justice must be refreshed from time to time with the sweat of idealistic young lawyers. You bring the legal claims, we'll bring the watering can.

Going Live Once More!

Well, it has been a long time since I have updated this blog... something like four years if i'm not mistaken. I think it might be time to get to it again. I do this for two reasons. First, Facebook status updates generally aren't that deep. IMO, status updates are best reserved for twitter-length comments, and prompts for others to make comments. Second, now that I am a professional writer (albeit, still unlicensed) that is free from the time-suck that is law school, I need an outlet for miscellaneous thoughts and ideas that have been largely subsumed by the aforementioned all-encompassing time-suck.
If you are reading this, I hope you return regularly to keep up to date with my thoughts and ramblings. I do not plan on ever monetizing anything I write here, and to the extent possible, I welcome thoughtful commentary. If you disagree with something I write here, please comment in order to explain why, or disabuse my of my conclusions.
With that being said, I look forward to ongoing publications here, and hope that all those who find their way here find something insightful, inspiring, or entertaining in these pages.

An essay on Self Delusion

Chutzpa. That's really the only word that sufficiently describes how someone like former Illinois governor Rod blagojevich can compare himself to great men like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Granted, we all remember the time Mr. Mandela tried to sell his seat in the prison cafeteria to the highest bidder, or the time Dr. King angled for a little quid pro quo for the privilege to march next to him in Alabama. Still, it defies logic when an embattled leader can become so self-deluded as to believe, let alone vocalize the idea that they are somehow akin to great leaders of the past. Its not just Blugoyavich. Just weeks ago, President Bush attempted to equate his now commonly derided terms in office to those of Abraham Lincoln.

Aside from the distastefulness of such self aggrandizement, it does little for their credibility to attempt to garner sympathy by claiming kinship to history's strongest leaders.

When threatened, a skunk will often do a series of acrobatic handstands before spraying its antagonizer with its nauseating stench. With politicians, the acrobatics come second.

Maybe it is simpler than that. Maybe all politicians have a need for their egos to be assuaged of guilt for bad decisions by rationalization. President Nixon claimed victimhood during his ordeal, and perhaps at the time his words rang true to his supporters. I imagine in the same way, Blugoyavich and Bush don't seem so deluded to those who who still idolize them.

It may be best to keep one thing in mind through all of this: Nelson Mandela, Dr. King, and Abraham Lincoln did not need to rhetorically equate themselves to Socrates, Mahatmas Gandhi, and Moses.

Great leaders don't need to argue they are great. Claiming a legacy through rhetoric does not make it true, and insisting as Joseph Stalin did, that "History will absolve" him, did not, in fact, make it so.

Bear Lake: The light at the end of the month

If I've seemed to disappear off the face of the earth the last few weeks, it's because I have. I am currently residing in the Purgatory that has been my work since last week. One of my coworkers who works in my department took off for 3 weeks, and I've been covering for him and working my own job since.

Just as it starts to overwhelm me, I am soothed by the thoughts of smooth cool waves lapping at the alpine beaches of Bear Lake. We're heading up there at the end of August. That weekend being Labor Day Weekend, I've added a dozen rambunctious children, several dozen loud jet skis, and legions of excessively large RVs belching smoke into the crisp mountain air.


It's still better than the last week and a half has been.

Wedding Bells

I got word my Friend Shaun Kurger is getting married! This is very exciting news for him, and Jenny and I are thrilled. Being LDS and single in Utah is tough if you are older than 21, and it can be hard to find that special someone when you are under so much pressure from society. But it seems he withstood the pressure, found the girl of his dreams, (a very pretty young woman named Alicia) and set a date. I must tip my hat to him in following in my footsteps and getting married in early August. It is, after all, when all the cool people get married.
Now, as I chuckle over the oddness of that last statement, I'll wish he and his fiancee the best of luck in surviving the wedding planning. We look forward to the big day.