Legal Aid Weighs Heavy for DBA Chief

The Dallas Morning News

By Cheryl Hall
Business Columnist

Ike Vanden Eykel, one of the most expensive attorneys in town, will spend half his time this year working for nothing. That's because he has something on his mind: providing legal assistance to those in our community who can't afford it.

Think of the 60-year-old high-profile divorce partner at Koons Fuller PC as a modern-day Robin Hood. His official reign of benevolent terror began Saturday night when he became president of the Dallas Bar Association.

Job 1, he told the gathering, is to beef up the bar's Campaign for Equal Access to Justice.That fund, started in 1994, helps the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, which provides free noncriminal legal services for Dallas' destitute.

As head of the bar association, he intends to strong-arm those at the top of the legal system so that those at the bottom of society can have access to it.

"This sounds soupy, but I happen to believe it: To whom much is given, much is expected. The license to practice law is a privilege, and with the privilege comes the moral obligation."

The problem here has never been greater, he says. Federal and state assistance for legal aid is evaporating while the need for legal help grows exponentially in this downturn.

Record numbers

People think of the "epidemic of family homelessness" as a national phenomenon, but Vanden Eykel says he's staggered by how many of the working poor are living in their cars and in shelters here.

Last year, more than 5,600 people contacted the program for legal help. A record 1,185 cases were referred to volunteer attorneys.

The clients needed help with stopping evictions, writing wills, getting back apartment deposits or collecting child support.

"Sometimes that money is the difference in eating or not," says Vanden Eykel. A $255 donation and a volunteer attorney can handle many of these legal predicaments.

The bar has raised almost $5 million for the volunteer attorneys program since 1994, including more than $500,000 in 2009.

Attorneys also contributed approximately $4 million in legal services last year.

Vanden Eykel keeps two or three pro bono cases on his personal docket. One of his proudest courtroom successes was representing the welfare of three children in a three-day jury trial.

"Those were pretty important clients to me."

His firm gave $15,000 last year, enough to help 60 families. But that's chump change to a guy like him, right? So why not write a really big check and be done with it?

"Because long range, the effort needs the entire 10,000 members of the Dallas Bar behind it," Vanden Eykel says. "One person who's been blessed can't address the magnitude of what we have ahead of us."

He'd like to raise a million bucks during his presidency but realizes that's a stretch. At the very least, he wants to exceed 2009's total.

Last year, he chaired efforts to tap major donors.

His standard spiel: " 'This is Ike. I need 20 seconds. I gave a lot of money to this because it's right. How much are you going to give? You want to be on the Heavy Hitters Committee? Write a check. If you don't want to do it, just tell me.' They usually did it."

This year, he intends to expand his efforts to more of those leading attorneys as well as successful buddies in other professions. "It's easy for me to pump these guys because I'm one of them."

Yes, Ike is, given that his typical fee is $700 an hour.

He expects each to give $10,000 to $25,000. "I'm going to start at the top and trickle down."

Early example

In 1994, Peter Vogel, then president of the Dallas Bar, started the Campaign for Equal Access to Justice, using a similar approach. He put a $10,000 squeeze on six law firms, including Vanden Eykel's. All agreed, although there was strong opposition within the bar about the organization getting into fundraising.

"It all started with Peter," who's a partner with Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, Vanden Eykel says. "He's my hero."What does Vogel think of Vanden Eykel's audacious goal and tactics?

"Ike is very passionate about this," Vogel says. "So who knows?"

Vanden Eykel expects his bar presidency to consume half his time this year.

Another key priority is to help bar members who've lost their jobs.

"We're not going to leave any wounded behind," Vanden Eykel says. "The big firms will say, 'Oh, everything's fine.' But people are getting chopped up and thrown out the back door. We're going to help them."