COMMUNITY VOICES 04/12/2009
LOS ANGELES PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL 1 L.A. PUB. INT. L.J. 329 LETTER TO A YOUNG PUBLIC INTEREST ATTORNEY* Writing this letter is very much of an honor for me. I vividly remember this comparable time in my life when I was graduating from law school and exploring what my future would be. Of course, the landscape in the early 1970’s was much different than today. The idea of a career as a “public interest lawyer” had not been developed. The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected the idea of the private Attorney General legal fee award; the Legal Services Corporation had not yet been formed. There were, to be sure, many legal services programs scattered about the country, many receiving their funding from the Office of Equal Opportunity or local public agencies. But a national support system of legal services for the poor was a dream yet to be implemented. We could do good work, but getting paid for it was not the norm. On the day of my graduation, I could not look forward and say, this will be my career. | AuthorFounding Partner, Hadsell, Stormer, Keeny, Richardson & Renick LLP, Pasadena. Mr. Stormer is a 1974 graduate of New York University School of Law, and a 1968 graduate of Wagner College. Mr. Stormer is recognized both nationally and internationally as one of the nation’s leading attorneys in civil rights, employment, and constitutional law, and has been practicing in these three areas for thirty-five years. He has been involved in over 70 published appellate decisions and has argued cases at all levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has lectured and published extensively, including legal treatises and law reviews. He has also taught at Hastings College of Law, Loyola Law School, University of San Fernando Law School, Southwestern Law School and People's College of Law. |
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