For Immediate Release
February 12, 2003
Contact:
Alexis Boles
(909) 460-2001
LEADING ATTORNEY JACK CLARKE CALLS FOR
LEGAL COMMUNITY
TO GIVE BACK TO GREATER COMMUNITY
ONTARIO, CA (FEB. 12, 2003) -- Jack B. Clarke, Jr., a
partner in the Litigation Department of the Riverside office of
Best Best & Krieger, recently challenged about 150 Inland
Empire attorneys, law faculty, government officials, and students
to call on the legal community to give back to the greater community.
Speaking at the University of La Verne College of Law’s Distinguished
Speaker Series on January 28, 2003, he encouraged the audience
to find a way, great or small, to volunteer and be a community
activist.
"The legal community partially fulfills its responsibility
to society through its everyday operation. We literally prevent
the fabric of society from tearing apart through our role in dispute
resolution, providing an economic conduit for the creation of
partnerships and corporations, enforcing the promises of contracts
and providing a means of safely enforcing the moral code as reflected
in our criminal laws," asserted Clarke. "However, I
believe these functions are merely the infrastructure for society.
The real work of creating an evolved, progressive society is done
by people who take on the day-to-day, moment-to-moment, seemingly
unsolvable problems with which we have wrestled throughout our
history—discrimination, a fair and effective public education
system, homelessness, poverty and more."
Clarke told the audience that the legal system can not resolve
the origins of these problems but that lawyers and the judiciary
have a unique responsibility to engage in larger community activities
and dialogues which can result in better social treatment of these
issues. He suggested lawyers bring two specific skills to public
dialogues that can aid in reaching better public decisions and
help avoid the often times emotional positions taken during these
discussions:
- the ability to use language to explain concepts that are of
vital importance to society;
- and the ability to be objective and to find the analytical
logic in most situations and apply that logic to a practical
solution.
Clarke noted some members of the legal community already are
involved in volunteer activities such as the Riverside County
Bench’s program of visiting local schools to speak with teachers
about the judicial system and juvenile justice system. The program
helps teachers understand the role of the courts and how they
interface with our system of education.
"More can be done. I am talking about encouraging volunteerism
and community activism in every way," said Clarke. "We
need more attorneys to call their local school principal and volunteer
to read to first graders, volunteer to help the homeless, help
an illiterate person learn to read and advocate for solutions
to public problems. The selection of an activity or cause doesn’t
matter as much as the point of doing more and better things in
the community."
In conclusion, Clarke suggested that if the legal community engaged
more with the larger community three things would happen:
- lawyers will become better professionals and people because
they will increase their interaction with parts of the community
with which they have no obvious connection;
- bit-by-bit the public’s esteem for the legal profession,
an honorable and critical profession to our society, will improve;
- and by increasing the quality of public discussions on the
difficult issues facing our society, the legal profession and
society will slowly cast off its irrational prejudices, care
more deeply about fairness in education and the plight of the
vulnerable among us, and incrementally move toward the underlying
principles that our legal system already symbolizes.
Jack Clarke concentrates his practice in the areas of education
law, special education disputes, public agency litigation and
other types of substantial litigation matters. He has a very successful
track record in his practice defending school districts and other
education clients. He frequently shares his experiences and wisdom
as a speaker on special education matters. Mr. Clarke has presented
programs on becoming an effective witness for the best interests
of children, discussed the role of the Office of Civil Rights
in special education program discrimination and addressed many
more difficult and complex topics throughout his career. He has
received several awards of distinction including the United States
Law Week Award and in September 2002, he was named one of the
top 100 lawyers in California by the Daily Journal.
He spoke as part of the College of Law’s Dean’s Distinguished
Speaker Series. The quarterly event features prominent attorneys,
judges and others who share their expertise, insights, high profile
cases, and other issues with students, faculty, members of the
legal community and others.
Established in 1891, Best Best & Krieger LLP is the largest
and one of the oldest law firms in inland Southern California,
with almost 150 attorneys providing legal services in the areas
of business law, government, natural resources and litigation.
Best Best & Krieger maintains offices in Riverside, Indian
Wells, Ontario, San Diego, Orange County and Sacramento.
Established in 1970, The University of La Verne College of Law
is California Bar accredited. The College of Law offers a modern,
technologically-advanced facility; small classes that feature
a traditional curriculum and practical skills taught by respected,
practice-proven faculty focused on individual students' needs;
and a prominent and supportive alumni network, all grounded in
a commitment to ethics and service. For more information on the
University of La Verne College of Law, please call (909) 460-2001
or visit them on the web at www.ulv.edu/law.
###
The University of La Verne College of Law was provisionally approved by the American Bar Association on February 13, 2006.
[Return to top]
