Why I Give

Why I Give to the Community Law Project

To Steve Bronson ’06, the legal profession “is really all about people helping people— that’s why I love it.”

It’s also why he has become a loyal and generous supporter of California Western’s Community Law Project (CLP), which enlists the law school’s students and attorney volunteers to provide free legal information to low-income and indigent communities throughout San Diego County.

A personal injury attorney and founder of the Bronson Firm APC in La Jolla, Steve learned about and started volunteering for CLP about four years ago, advising CLP clients with personal injury cases. He says it was a deeply moving and rewarding experience from the start.

One of his first volunteer assignments involved an undocumented laborer who lost his foot in an on-the-job accident while working for a major real estate development company. Saddled with a major, costly, and disabling injury that could affect his future prospects for work, the laborer also had a wife and three children to look after. The company, meanwhile, refused to compensate him for his injury.

Like many undocumented workers in similar situations, the laborer was distrustful of authority and assumed that the justice system was not designed to help undocumented workers like him. Over time, however, Steve was able to gain the laborer’s trust, walk him through the legal process, and help secure a fair settlement—not only for the laborer but also for other workers who had run up against similar problems with the same company. Steve says this case illustrates what he considers to be one of the most rewarding aspects of his work with CLP: showing vulnerable people who have been wronged that justice is available to them—that justice really is for everyone. “When you think of the term ‘access to justice,’ the Community Law Project is the embodiment of that,” he says, adding that CLP Director Dana Sisitsky’s dedication to the program “is just amazing.”

Steve adds that the students working with CLP are, of course, the other major beneficiaries of the program. “They not only learn the value of giving back,” he says, “they also learn how the world works and develop important legal and communications skills that will serve them well throughout their lives and careers.”

Steve says he hopes that fellow alumni will follow his example and donate to California Western’s clinics and programs, mindful of the incredible amount of good they do—both for the students who participate and the communities served.

“Supporting programs like the Community Law Project is a no-brainer,” he says.

The students “learn how the world works and develop important legal and communications skills that will serve them well throughout their lives and careers.“

- Steve Bronson ‘06