EVAN A. DAVIS, the immediate past-president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, was not present for the first of four statewide pro bono convocations at Fordham University School of Law last month. But his sentiments on equal justice were, and they set the tone for an historic task taken up by the Unified Court System: the design of a statewide program for lawyers to easily volunteer their services.
In opening remarks at the Fordham meeting, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye quoted from a speech Mr. Davis delivered last November, on the occasion of what is usually a pro forma business session of the City Bar. But on that November evening, the nation was still reeling from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. And Mr. Davis’ own downtown Manhattan firm – he is a partner at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton – was dislocated by the collapse of the nearby Twin Towers. In his speech, Mr. Davis identified the irony of the moment: atrocity had been met with mercy – mercy in the form of an unparalleled outpouring of volunteerism among New York lawyers.
