Lawyers come up with $500,000 to help low-income people

My dad always used the matching-fund technique to teach me fiscal responsibility. When I wanted to study in London for a semester, he paid half. I worked for the other half.

Apparently going halfsies worked with Southern Nevada lawyers, who couldn't stand the thought of losing a $500,000 matching grant dangled in front of them. When the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada asked lawyers to pony up $500,000 to match a $500,000 grant from the Lied Foundation, it took only three weeks before 57 lawyers or law firms opened their wallets to help low-income people.

The center's existing building has become so overcrowded for its staff of 60, including 24 attorneys, that Executive Director Barbara Buckley said she hesitates to hire any more attorneys, because there is no place to put them.

More attorneys would help more poor people. A new building, in this case, isn't simply cosmetic.

Continuing the whole dad theme, the largest donation was from attorneys Kathleen and Randall Jones, who gave $125,000 to honor his dad, Herbert Jones.

There are many worthy ways Jones could have chosen to honor his father, a founding partner of Jones Vargas, who died in 2008 at age 93.

"If I was going to do something to honor my dad, I wanted it to be something to honor the legal profession, because he believed it was one of the most honorable professions," Jones said.

He decided helping the poor with their legal troubles was "a great way to honor my father in a profession he loved so much and in a way that benefits a substantial number of people in our community."

Randall Jones, who is on the board of the Legal Aid Center, sees firsthand the types of issues the center handles, from representing children to fighting consumer rip-offs. Including his own donation, the partners at his own firm, Kemp, Jones & Coulthard, donated $177,500 to help the Legal Aid Center replace the building at 800 S. Eighth St.

The center offers free legal classes to help people with legal matters including divorce, child custody, guardianship and other issues; but the classes are crammed into a small meeting room.

The effort to raise money for a new Legal Aid Center building started in 2008 and had momentum until the economic meltdown. So the plan was put on hold.

Credit for jump-starting the effort last month goes to Christina Hixson, who manages the Lied Foundation, which donates to worthy causes.

On Dec. 9, Buckley received an unsolicited call from Hixson, who made an offer hard to refuse and impossible to ignore: Come on down and get $500,000 for the center's capital construction fund, no strings attached.

Then the philanthropist sweetened the pot. If the Legal Aid Center could raise $500,000 by Dec. 31, the foundation would match that. And if the center can raise another $500,000 by June 30, the foundation will match that, too.

If all goes well, the center will have a total of $3.5 million in the kitty for the construction fund. It won't cover the $11 million cost to build, but it will build momentum.

Buckley announced the Lied challenge on Dec. 11 at a luncheon honoring attorneys who donate their talents for free to the center's clients. (Obviously do-gooders and easy touches.) By Dec. 31, the $500,000 match was met, with $200 to spare.

The Lied Foundation deserves credit for initiating the matching grant. But when some attorneys are scorned as shysters, the true professionals deserve credit for writing checks that help low-income people who otherwise couldn't afford a lawyer.

Child abuse. Domestic violence. Consumer fraud. Foreclosure. Bankruptcy. They're tough problems to deal with, even with a lawyer. Think how much harder it is without legal help, or space to work.

Let's get personal. If you had $125,000 to spare, how would you honor your dad?

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 702- 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.