State Bar president wants more help for non-profits in Arizona

The state Bar president says community non-profit organizations will be getting more free legal help.

Luci Scott
The Arizona Republic

Lawyers often help non-profits prepare their incorporation documents and get their tax-exempt status with the federal government, she said, but the advice has usually ended there.

"We give birth to them, and now we want to provide help after they’re born and nurture them," said Pam Treadwell-Rubin, 42, a partner in the Tucson firm Moeller Gage & Treadwell-Rubin.

She began a pilot program in Tucson, where attorneys advise non-profits on employment manuals, insurance and other issues.

"We recognized the potential need of these organizations for different types of legal services that did not involve litigation," said Treadwell-Rubin, who is in the middle of her year as Bar president.

A town hall is scheduled Nov. 19 in Tucson to talk with non-profits about what free help lawyers can provide.

Other areas she is focusing on are encouraging public lawyers to become more involved with Bar activities, participating in online chats with Bar members and increasing access to justice for all (she recommends the Web site azlawhelp.org).

Treadwell-Rubin’s legal specialties are workers’ compensation, civil litigation and insurance defense.

She is active in her community, helping the Pima Youth Partnership, which provides rural youth with alcohol-, tobacco- and drug-prevention information; family literacy programs; teen pregnancy prevention; and recreation.

Speaking up for others is something she has done at least as far back as her undergraduate days at the University of Arizona, when she was working as a relief house parent at the Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind.

She tried to persuade management to allow the staff to stay over the summer.

"We weren’t ultimately successful," she said, "but we did join together a diverse group toward a common goal, got the ear of the administration and showed those who were fearful of coming forward on their own that there was value to making their concerns known."

Among her memorable legal cases is a 1991 child-abuse case she prosecuted from the Pima County Attorney’s Office. A 3-year-old boy had been held in a scalding bathtub by his mother’s ex-boyfriend, causing severe burns.

"He was an incredibly resilient kid who could have died about three times in the process of treatment," she said. The abuser was sentenced to 25 years to life.

When Treadwell-Rubin isn’t lawyering, she might be found singing, playing golf, reading (probably a mystery) or traveling (she especially likes Scotland and Wales).

Advice to newly minted attorneys?

"Do not be afraid to work," said Treadwell-Rubin, who was an adviser to an honorary society at her alma mater, the University of Arizona Law School.

"A lot of students I worked with thought about going to law school just because they were not sure of what else they wanted to do, and they also thought things were going to be given to them if they made that career choice," she said.

"What you find out, when you get into any business of working as an adult is that you have to prove yourself and have to be willing to put in time to show you’re reliable and dependable and appropriate for more responsibility."

An additional bit of advice: "Everyone should try to give to their community. . . . By giving back to other people, you’re leaving a place better than when you got there."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/1103whosincharge03.html