CBA Record September-October 2023

YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION

Participating in these types of groups and beautification efforts helps you turn others into stakeholders in your community. Do physical labor. As lawyers, we don’t often get our hands dirty. By assisting in physical labor efforts in the community, we can be hands-on for a number of important and meaningful causes. Join Habitat for Humanity or another similar organiza tion and help build homes for those who do not have them or who do not have access to affordable housing. Volunteer to assist in landscaping efforts for public housing areas. After a big storm or other natural disaster, volunteer for cleanup and remediation efforts. Help repair bike lanes. Do something that gets you out of your office chair, into the community, and helping others (and you may get a good workout in the process). Assist an animal or wildlife rescue organization. The Chi cagoland area has a shockingly high number of stray and aban doned animals. It seems that shelters are always full, and they must keep space available to help in the most extreme cases of neglect or injury. Stray and abandoned animals can have a del eterious impact on the community, including by reproducing at excessive rates thereby impacting population control, by damag ing or destroying native plants and wildlife, by consuming limited resources, or by potentially injuring humans. Animals deserve to not be subjected to undue suffering and to be able to live safe lives free from harm. Volunteering with an animal or wildlife rescue organization, even by just cleaning cages, walking dogs, or pet ting cats, allows the organization to focus its resources on finding permanent homes for stray and abandoned animals, spaying and neutering to aid in population control, and providing safety and dignity to stray and abandoned animals. These efforts are very important to society as a whole.

Assist a disadvantaged group in a non-legal capacity. While providing a disadvantaged group with pro bono legal services is extremely laudable, disadvantaged groups need non-legal ser vices as much as or even more than legal services. For example, if you are interested in assisting recently arrived migrants from Central America, work with an organization and offer to help them gather necessary documents to obtain a City of Chicago ID and access essential local government services. If you want to assist elderly persons, volunteer at a retirement community and help serve dinner or assist with an activity. If you want to help individuals in the working poor community who have tra ditionally been denied the opportunity to obtain mortgages and buy houses, volunteer with an organization that helps identify affordable housing and apply for mortgages. The point is, you do not have to pigeonhole yourself into a legal capacity to assist marginalized groups. And, indeed, members of these groups are among the most appreciative of your time and efforts to assist. In short, lawyers should feel compelled and excited to vol unteer and better their communities in any capacity—not just legal ones. We can serve our communities in a non-legal capacity because we have the resources and expertise to do so and because it is incredibly important to improve society. So, get out there, get involved, and help make your community a better place in any way you can!

Jake Berger, a partner at Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC, practices primarily in commercial litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country and serves as Co-editor-in-Chief of the YLS Journal.

Actuarial Pension Valuations • All Illinois Public Retirement Plans • Private Plans • Military and Federal (CSRS/FERS) • Non-Qualified Plans • Survivor Benefits • QILDRO Income Stream Estimates

John C. Madden (925) 258-7100

www.msmqdros.com info@msmqdros.com

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