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Bill Davis’s Discussion of His Pro Bono Experience

For the past five years, I have handled pro bono lawsuits for Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association (Legal Aid) involving Chapter 751 Temporary Custody Cases. Chapter 751 allows close relatives of minors to obtain temporary custody of the minor. My clients, the petitioners, usually are interested in obtaining the legal right to make medical and educational decisions, public assistance for the children, keeping children and families together, and/or avoid the foster care system. When granted, the order is usually ongoing until the children reach 18 or until a parent petitions the court for modification. Once I receive a case from Legal Aid, I meet with the petitioner and the children involved. If, after investigating, I find that the case is meritorious, I proceed with obtaining signed consents from the parents. Parents typically either consent to the custody or are unavailable for some reason (death, disappearance, prison). If I cannot obtain a consent, for some reason (death, disappearance, prison, missing or unknown fathers), I proceed with obtaining service of process. With consents or defaults, I can proceed to final hearing and obtain a temporary custody order. If a parent objects to an order, the petitioner’s chances of success are slim. Chapter 751 cases are both rewarding and heartbreaking. In every case, something has occurred that separates the children from their parents. On the other hand, in every case my client is stepping forward to help the children involved. In my most tragic and rewarding case, a baby girl was born to a teenage mother of three. Her first two children were being raised by their different fathers’ mothers. The third child became the subject of my action. The father, a different man from the first two fathers, physically abused the mother both before and after the birth. When the police tried to find him, he fled to parts unknown. The mother hated the child because she reminded her of the abusive father and thus named the child “Enemy” (not her real name). Within days of the birth, the mother contacted the police and told them to take the child or she would abandon her. The police contacted the mother’s mother to see if she would come for the child. The reply was “let the child die.” The police then contacted the mother’s elderly grandmother who immediately went for the child and eventually became my client. While my client was concerned that she would not live to see the baby graduate from high school, she loved the child and wanted to do what she could to help the child. She thus called Legal Aid and they sent her case to me. Once we received the temporary custody order, we also wanted to have the child’s name changed. The mother didn’t want anything to do with the child but wanted her to carry the name “Enemy” as a statement to the world. After lengthy discussions, we convinced the mother to consent to the name change. Now, the child and her great-grandmother are doing well. In 2007 and 2008, Cathy Tucker, the Legal Aid Pro Bono Coordinator, and I taught free lunchtime seminars on Chapter 751 for pro bono attorneys. Cathy coordinated the seminars and spoke about pro bono work in general and Chapter 751 in particular. We created materials for the attorneys and I provided a practical discussion of how to handle these cases. I encourage anyone that is interested in this area to attend our 2009 seminar. In sum, I find Chapter 751 cases rewarding because I believe that I am accomplishing a useful, tangible result that has an important impact on the lives of children in need in our community. In addition to handling pro bono Chapter 751 cases, I have also participated in the Saturday morning Telephone screening project for Legal Aid. For the past several years, I have spent six Saturday mornings each year answering phone calls from members of our community seeking legal assistance and screening them for appointments. Larri Thatcher and other Legal Aid staff have always been very helpful during these mornings and a delight to work with. The most common calls involve evictions, foreclosures, divorces, child custody, and immigration. Some calls are memorable because they pose unusual issues or because they are funny. For example, one young father wanted to know if he had a legal right to force his wife to permit him to be present at the birth of his child (not an issue handled by Legal Aid). Another caller told me that he won the lottery and received six figure annual payments. He had already spent the current year’s payment so he felt that he could not afford a lawyer (he did not qualify for Legal Aid). Some callers simply want to talk out of loneliness and have no legal problems at all. I would strongly recommend that you volunteer with Legal Aid by handling pro bono cases or participating in their projects or both. My most important advice regarding the handling of pro bono cases is to treat pro bono clients the same as paying clients. William “Bill” A. Davis, Jr. is a managing attorney at The Law Office of Patricia Garagozlo and has been a member of the Orange County Bar Association since 1997. He is married to his wife, Jill, and they have two sons.

William A. Davis, Jr. winner of the Award of Excellence 2009 with Heather Pinder Rodriguez, President of the Legal Aid Society Board of Trustees 2009-2010.