|
SAN
RAFAEL - The first thing Foley & Lardner partner Teveia
R. Barnes did before sitting down to be interviewed by
Ramona Polk was present the teenager with a business
card because, Barnes said, "that's what lawyers do."
"You
turn it around so that your name faces the person you're
giving it to," she instructed. "And you always look them
in the eye."
This
was the preamble to a question-and-answer period between
Barnes and 13-year-old Polk who, along with other
soon-to-be high school students from Marin City, are
exploring myriad jobs held by African-Americans in their
community.
Barnes, a partner in Foley's finance and financial
institutions practice in San Francisco, is founder,
president and executive director of Lawyers for One
America. The 5-year-old organization is a national
nonprofit based in San Rafael that promotes diversity in
the legal community, serves the working poor and
counsels other nonprofits in business matters.
As
part of a summer project for the Marin City Network,
four African-American students - all of whom will be
freshmen in the Marin high schools this fall - visited
Barnes's headquarters Tuesday to interview her and her
sister, Deputy Executive Director Bonita F. Barnes.
The
Marin City Network, one of Lawyers for One America's pro
bono clients, conducts afterschool programs and provides
career development and support services to middle-school
students and their families.
The
students embarked on their career exploration Tuesday,
and a facet of the project entails collecting footage
for a documentary they're producing with the help of a
professional videographer.
"Where
were you when you were our age, and how did you get from
there to where you are today?" Polk asked, while
14-year-old Robert Burton manned the video camera.
"I
knew pretty early that I wanted to be a lawyer," Barnes
said. "Teachers told me I should be a secretary, which
is a fine profession, but you don't get to talk as
much."
Barnes
recalled how she was considered the "nerdy kid with
thick glasses" who was sought out by others to settle
their disputes. Growing up, there were very few female
attorneys and people of color in the legal community,
she said. But she entered New York University School of
Law where 50 percent of the class was women, "which was
rare for that time."
Daaimah Brown, 13, and Willie Smith, 14, looked on and
prepared for their interview with Bonita Barnes.
After
the interview, Polk said she was interested in a legal
career because she wanted to help innocent people.
"I
don't want to see kids grow up without their dad," said
Polk, who will enter Larkspur's Redwood High School in
September. "I want to help people get back their normal
life."
Teveia
Barnes heads the organization's diversity center, which
aims to diversify all sectors of the legal community at
all levels. On several occasions, she's given talks
about the profession to curious students at middle and
high schools in Marin City, an unincorporated area of
Marin County.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Marin City is nearly
40 percent African-American compared with just 3 percent
in the rest of the county.
"Generally the students are interested in how much money
we make more than anything else," Barnes said. "But we
try to present the whole gamut."
Lawyers for One America was created following President
Clinton's summons of hundreds of the nation's leading
attorneys to the White House in 1999. In order to fight
poverty and discrimination, Clinton challenged attorneys
to increase pro bono legal services, mentor minority law
students and assist inner-city businesses and
entrepreneurs.
According to the organization's mission statement, it
has aimed to "promote greater racial and ethnic
diversity in the legal profession nationwide, so that
our law schools, judicial systems and lawyers more
accurately reflect the communities they serve."
"The
point was not to duplicate what was already being
offered by Legal Aid or the Volunteer Legal Service
program, but to answer the needy who were not being
served," Barnes said. "And there's a lot of them."
Barnes
served as an associate general counsel and senior vice
president at Bank of America before joining Foley and
was active in the bank's diversity programs. Following
tenure as executive director of the San Francisco Bar
Association from 2001-2003, where she worked closely
with the Homeless Advocacy Project in the city's Mission
District, Barnes added pro bono work to her diversity
advocacy activities.
"When
I left the bar, I really wanted to work with the working
poor," Barnes said. "These are people who work for just
a little money."
Barnes
uses her legal acumen to provide civil legal counseling
to individuals and general commercial and business
education to microbusinesses and other nonprofit groups,
including Performing Stars, the Helen Vine Detox Center
and Women Helping All Women. Her husband Alan R. Sankin,
vice president of international tax at Oracle Corp.,
provides tax counseling.
Benjamin
R. Stewart is a staff consultant to the Marin City
Community Land Corp., a private nonprofit that owns land
parcels in Marin City.
Stewart said Lawyers for One America, in conjunction
with Foley attorneys, recently provided the equivalent
of more than $43,000 in pro bono work to Land Corp. in a
lawsuit filed by the California Housing Finance Agency.
Land
Corp. leased a parcel totaling six acres to a developer.
The 200-plus low-income housing complex contained
multi-million dollar defects. During an ongoing dispute
between Loan Corp. and the developer, the land went into
to default. The California Housing Finance Agency sued
for foreclosure and receivership of the land.
"The
[pro bono attorneys] gave us the direction to reach our
major objective," Stewart said. "We were treated as if
we were a top-paying client."
Eight
months of litigation ended last month, resulting in Land
Corp. maintaining the multimillion-dollar property and
ensured the proceeds of the judgment went directly to
correcting the construction defects that led to the
suit.
"Foley
is very supportive and committed to pro bono," Barnes
said. "There are several lawyers there who contribute to
LFOA regularly as well as our summer associates."
Barnes
named Morrison & Foerster; Hanson, Bridgett, Marcus,
Vlahos & Rudy; Farella Braun + Martel and other firms as
supportive of Lawyer's for One America's activities.
"I
feel like I'm doing what lawyers are supposed to do,"
Barnes said. "At Foley, I have a sophisticated financial
practice that keeps me stimulated. The Foley side is
where my mind is and LFOA is where my heart is, so my
head and my heart are in sync."
# # # |
Back
to Homepage