A Call For The Poor Finally Answered
In 1964, at the University of Chicago - School of Law, Robert F. Kennedy chastised a whole new audience of attorneys for their failure to serve the poor. He was then the U.S. attorney general. He observed that during that time yet this could still be observed until now in most countries worldwide. It seems that the access to the legal system is a luxury - a luxury not everyone can get. It was a totally bold thing to do during that time because things were less liberal though everyone calls for fair justice.
Most of the time, only the rich people or those who have enough money have access to the legal system. It does not only happen to the third-world countries but also to big and rich countries like the United States of America. Most of these are observed when the convicted criminals or those who simply needs the lawyers' assistance are poor. The attorney's fees are very high and cannot be easily afforded by those who live paycheck by paycheck. Moreover, this is a bigger problem for those who do not have regular earnings; they do not even have enough money to support their needs. How else can they pay of attorney fees?
After what Kennedy did, there are several federal advocates who started offering a series of programs and service for the broader community - those who belong to the low-income group. Some of them offer counsel programs on different cases such as family, bankruptcy, criminal cases and others. They offer these as pro-bono legal services for those who belong to the lower class of the society or those who are poor. Some are free, but if it is not possible, they try to give their lawyers services at the lowest possible price. This enables the poor people to voice out their rights to fair justice.
Lawyers who offer pro-bono cases furnish the free legal services to poor people who have pending court cases. This is because it has been identified that it is a right of anyone to be represented in court to avail of his or her legal rights. This is of greatest help for poor convicted victims who need to prove that they are innocent on court. Also, this has helped a lot of bankrupted families. Moreover, this has helped poor people and protected their families' and personal rights. This actually raises them in such a way that they are given fair chance as to those who are richer.
Thanks to the spoken dismay of Robert Kennedy, the outcry of the poor was finally vocalized in front of many attorneys. This has caused uproar in the legal offices and served as a wake-up call for attorneys all over US and worldwide. Most have realized that, yes, it really is a difficult job to handle legal cases and it cost them a lot of money to have their titles, yet, they too have humane obligations. And this is one of the main reasons why the federal legal services program was established.
