{"id":47243,"date":"2018-01-03T15:27:59","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T20:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/?p=47243"},"modified":"2021-10-15T12:20:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T16:20:39","slug":"representing-the-disadvantaged","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/articles\/2018\/representing-the-disadvantaged\/","title":{"rendered":"Representing the Disadvantaged"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seymour James Jr., attorney-in-chief of the Legal Aid Society, recalls decades of work in public interest law.<\/h2>\n

\"SeymourFor 43 years, Seymour James Jr. (\u201974) has worked for the Legal Aid Society<\/a> in New York. Driven by a passion to provide high-quality legal representation to disadvantaged New Yorkers, James began his long career in public interest law shortly after graduating from the Boston University School of Law in 1974.<\/p>\n

James began to consider public interest law as an undergraduate at Brown University. He attended a program for potential law students in Boston that emphasized \u201claw as a vehicle for social change\u201d before enrolling in the JD program at BU Law.<\/p>\n

While in law school, he served as a summer intern for the Board of Corrections in New York City, which regulates \u201cconditions of confinement and correctional health and mental health care in all City correctional facilities,\u201d according to its website<\/a><\/span>. There, James interviewed detainees about their legal representation. \u201cI found that the vast majority of detainees were dissatisfied with the representation they were receiving,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Many detainees reported that they often didn\u2019t see the attorneys representing them, even in court. For some, \u201cevery time they went to court, they saw a different lawyer,\u201d he says, because \u201cindividual attorneys were not assigned to clients and didn\u2019t seem to have time\u201d to devote attention to each case.<\/p>\n

Interning for the Board of Corrections reinforced James\u2019s determination to work in indigent defense, specifically with the Legal Aid Society. \u201cI came to the Legal Aid Society because I wanted to be able to provide high quality representation to my clients,\u201d he says. \u201cWith each successive step I took, as I supervised more staff, I was able to increase the number of clients affected by my work.\u201d<\/p>\n

For nine years, James served as the attorney-in-charge of the criminal practice. The position came with its challenges. \u201cOur caseloads in the criminal defense practice were enormous\u2014almost twice the recognized standard,\u201d he says. The problem was \u201cexacerbated by the fact that New York at the time was engaged in broken-windows policing and stop-and-frisk [practices],\u201d which placed more individuals in the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere weren\u2019t enough resources to bring the caseloads down,\u201d he says, noting additional challenges like the lack of investigators and social workers to dedicate the proper attention to each case.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, we were able to secure legislation\u2026 to reduce caseloads to an established level,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The Legal Aid Society worked with an independent law firm on a study to determine a manageable caseload. With input from that study, the chief administrative judge set a cap on the number of cases an attorney could be assigned.<\/p>\n

The legislation, secured in 2009, \u201chad a great impact on the caseloads we had,\u201d reducing by almost half what was once a \u201ctriage practice\u201d of 750 cases per year on average.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving that reduced caseload enabled attorneys to spend more time interviewing clients, interviewing witnesses, and doing research [on cases],\u201d James says.<\/p>\n

James\u2019 time at the Legal Aid Society has been rewarding not only for the improvements he has made in addressing problems of indigent defense, but also for the positive relationships he forged with his clients.<\/p>\n

Once, a client stopped his car to step out and thank him for his representation years before. Another client, who was involved in substance abuse when James represented him in court and helped him find a program for recovery, stayed in contact with James for \u201ca number of years\u201d before he passed away. \u201cHe used to keep in touch with me; he told me when he got married; and he sent me pictures of his kids,\u201d James recalls.<\/p>\n

Now, after devoting himself for more than four decades to advocating for high-quality legal representation for poor New Yorkers and ensuring that no one is deprived of representation because of poverty, he plans to retire.<\/p>\n

James says he hopes to continue to practice law, albeit with more free time and less pressure with a lighter workload.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to spending a little more time with family,\u201d he says, adding that he also hopes to read more for leisure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe job I\u2019ve had has been pretty intense, you have to be on 24\u20137,\u201d he says. Even so, \u201cbeing a public interest lawyer is immensely rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the keys to his success is passion. He advises recent and future graduates to consider their own interests and what excites them.<\/p>\n

\u201cFind an area of practice that you are passionate about,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause you\u2019ll be thrilled to go to work every day, and you\u2019ll be driven to secure your objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reported by Kaya Williams (COM\u201920)<\/h6>\n

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