Goldmark Award 2000 - Greg Dallaire
Judge Michael J. Fox presents the Goldmark Distinguished Service Award to Greg Dallaire
Greg Dallaire on Receiving the 2000 Goldmark Award
Thank you very much. There are many people in this room and many others throughout the state who deserve an award like this. During the past 30 years I have been fortunate to work with skilled lawyers and other advocates who are working directly with clients and improving the lives of poor people. These advocates are the people who we celebrate at this lunch each year and they are the people who made this award possible for me and I am grateful.
I want to especially recognize my wife June for all her patience, support and encouragement. My son Jake and his wife Ana arrived this week from Mexico City. I am very happy you are here.
Finally, I would like to thank my firm, Garvey, Schubert & Barer, for encouraging me and other lawyers in the firm to engage in public service. I could not have remained in touch with some things and I could not have become involved in new activities without the firm's support.
Michael focused on a few accomplishments during the past 30 years. I would like to talk for a few moments, about the future. As we enter a new decade, we must not forget that poverty and racism are still alive and well in our state. Farmworkers still sleep on riverbanks in Eastern Washington and there is a disproportionate number of African-Americans in our state prisons. The institutional safety nets designed to protect the poor are many times illusory and lines at the food banks are still long. In addition, something akin to the Industrial Revolution is taking place around us. Technology and globalization promise to increase wealth, but we must recognize that these developments also have the potential to increase inequality.
I suggest that justice means fairness, equality and participation in this new order. As lawyers and advocates we must start thinking about these new challenges in creative ways so your clients have options. Whether we like it or not, the traditional welfare system has been abolished. In its place is the new economy. I encourage each of you to consider how the private sector promotes or inhibits equality. Employment, working conditions and benefits are the areas which are evolving from the cessation of the welfare system. One ticket to employment is education and I do not mean just job training. Public discussions and experimentation are already underway regarding charter schools, vouchers and student testing. What does basic education mean in a workplace which requires knowledge of technology. The interests of poor people should be represented as those issues develop and mature.
There is also much discussion about taxes. Tax policy has an effect upon employment and housing. Why should a slumlord be eligible for depreciation tax breaks if the building does not meet code standards? Doesn't that violate public policy?
Let me digress for a moment. This may sound like social engineering. That is not what I am talking about. Let me give you an example. Former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg was Walter Reuther's lawyer when Reuther headed the UAW. When Mr. Goldberg exercised his creative lawyer skills to explain options to his client, who do you think decided what to do? Goldberg or his client, Walter Reuther? A few years ago a low-income couple came in to see a legal services lawyer in Ellensburg. They wanted a bankruptcy because the husband was out of work and had a large medical bill because of a recent hospitalization. They knew of no other option. Recognizing that the debts were from a hospital constructed with federal funding, the lawyer explained about the hospital's legal obligation to provide free services to some of its patients. An investigation and subsequent negotiation improved health services for many low-income people in Kittitas County. The point of this story is that the couple who came to see the lawyer chose the course of action, not their lawyer.Legal Services is not like a welfare benefit. Our society is based upon the premise that everyone participates. Lawyers give poor people the means to participate. The lawyers in this state have the ability and ingenuity to enable poor people to participate and to address the important problems I just mentioned. The opponents of legal services are uncomfortable with that kind of participation. That is why the opponents of legal services want to deny you the resources. But with the continued support of the Bar and the Bench, those resources will be there. The Bar and Bench of this state have been tremendous. Their support dispels the negative stereotypes of lawyers and we should all be grateful for what they do. And even though the focus of your representation may shift from government benefits to private sector issues, I am confident that that support will continue.
Finally, I want to close by telling a story about my friend, Michael Fox. In 1974, at some personal and financial sacrifice, June and I moved to Georgia where I was hired to run Georgia Legal Services. After a year, the board terminated my employment. As they stated to me at the time, I was talking about apples, and they were talking about oranges. I was stunned and depressed. Here I was out of a job with two small children in a far away state. I called my good friend to tell him I had been fired. "Well, Gregory, I want you to know we always have a place for you – in our hearts."
I want to thank you again for this wonderful award. And I want you to know that there is always a place for all of you – in my heart.