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His curriculum vitae is a testament to a life spent balancing the scales of justice for low-income people across Maryland and the nation. Herbert S. Garten chaired the Maryland Legal Services Corporation (MLSC) for eight years, he founded the People's Pro Bono Action Center, he directed the Maryland Homeless Persons Representation Project, and he served on American Bar Association committees dedicated to strengthening legal services and IOLTA programs.
So it would be understandable if Mr. Garten's recollections were a little hazy when he is asked to think back more than four decades to recall the first big pro bono case he ever took. Yet Mr. Garten doesn't blink. "It was 1958, before the days of consumer protection. The housekeeper of one of my clients had purchased storm windows, which amounted to more than the value of her home. She could not afford the monthly payments and was about to lose her home."
Mr. Garten wasn't about to let that happen. He took the case and worked on the briefs each night in his kitchen upon returning home from his work in private practice. His late-night legal work ended up saving his client's home. More than forty-five years later, Mr. Garten remembers the case as an important step in his professional development-he felt good seeing justice done.
In 1989, Mr. Garten became President of the Maryland State Bar Association and made equal justice his top priority. The theme of his term was "People's Pro Bono: The Highest Form of Professionalism." He began a pro bono recruitment campaign that enlisted more than 60 percent of all Maryland bar-certified attorneys, many of whom participated for the first time. The Maryland Bar received national acclaim and an ABA award for its efforts.
"As a private practitioner, I have always rendered pro bono services-from the very beginning," Mr. Garten says. "Poor people are often unable to protect themselves; they need lawyers much more than people of means. It's important that low-income Americans have a place to live and can pay their basic living expenses."
As a member of the LSC Board, Mr. Garten must now concern himself with the government's ability to pay basic legal aid expenses-given that tens of thousands of eligible clients go without much-needed help. For this he can draw on his experiences as Chairman of MLSC, which oversees the state's annual investment in legal services.
"There is a tremendous gap between the resources we have and the needs we have," Mr. Garten says. "Little by little we are making inroads in filling that gap."
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