FEATURE STORY
Gary Smith
G
ary Smith, Executive Director of Legal Services of Northern California (“LSNC”), ranks high on the list of passionate lawyers. Then again, it’s easy to be passionate when you have hit the magic combination of enjoying the people you work with, encountering constant challenges and growth in your career, and doing the work that you went to law school for. A native of the Philadelphia area, Smith’s interest in social justice was sparked early by the civil rights work of a minister uncle and took shape while pursuing joint degrees at Yale’s Divinity School and Law School, where he studied religion and social justice as a component of religious traditions. An internship at legal aid further inspired him as he worked under lawyers challenging
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Maureen C. Onyeagbako is a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice and a Staff Editor of the Sacramento Lawyer. She can be contacted at Maureen. Onyeagbako@doj.ca.gov.
A Dedicated Community Lawyer and Leader by Maureen C. Onyeagbako death penalty convictions and working to end poverty. He also saw how civil litigation could be used as a tool to open doors for the poor in the political sector. Following graduation and a federal clerkship, Smith’s legal practice took him to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, where he represented clients in public benefits and civil rights cases, among others. He definitively characterizes his time on the reservation as a “great experience.” He left not just with an acumen in the law but also in Navajo history and culture. Faced with the needs of a growing family, Smith moved west to California. Hired by former LSNC Executive Director, Victor Geminiani, he started out as a managing attorney in 1988 and eventually became LSNC’s Director of Litigation and Deputy Director. He has been counsel in successful cases before the U.S. and California Supreme Courts, and has numerous published federal and state appellate decisions to his credit. But Smith says that his proudest moment as an advocate came not as an attorney but as a plaintiff, when he served as the only individual legal services staff member, along with five legal aid organizations, who successfully challenged the constitutionality of restrictions imposed upon federally-funded legal aid programs by Congress and the Legal Services Corporation in 1995. He became Executive Director of LSNC in 1999. As Executive Director, Smith leads LSNC in providing quality legal ser-
SACRAMENTO LAWYER | January/February 2015 | www.sacbar.org
vices to the poor and combatting poverty. These goals are met through an emphasis on community lawyering, which includes advocating for economic development and civil rights, and partnering with other non-profit organizations that support the poor. Among its many activities, LSNC has worked with local officials to increase bus routes in rural areas with the hope of increasing job opportunities and access for the poor. LSNC regularly performs corporate-counsel functions for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Loaves and Fishes, and My Sister’s House, among others. LSNC also supports groups that train lawyers who help the poor navigate California’s health system and Obamacare, and does advocacy work on mortgage foreclosure and predatory lending issues with the help of funding from the Attorney General’s recent settlement with major banks. Smith says that, as with many non-profits, funding has significantly changed the demands on him and LSNC over the years. LSNC has more than 100 funding sources supporting its $11.5 million budget. Less than 30 percent comes from the federal Legal Services Corporation and less than 25 percent comes from other government sources. The remainder is from grants (typically tied to specific projects) and fundraising, which help alleviate LSNC’s dependence on fluctuations in government budgets. Not surprisingly, funders want to know that their