FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                       AG
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1996                             (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

    ATTORNEY GENERAL APPLAUDS DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ATTORNEYS
         PARTICIPATING IN THE D.C. BAR'S PRO BONO CLINIC

     WASHINGTON, DC -- Following the Department of Justice's
announcement of its new pro bono policy, Attorney General Janet
Reno congratulated the first group of Department attorneys who
donated a free evening to staff one of the D.C. Bar Public Service
Activities Corporation's (PSAC) bi-monthly Pro Bono Clinics on June
5, 1996.       

     For the first time in the Bar Clinic's history, the entire
clinic was staffed by Justice Department volunteers.  Sixteen
attorneys and seven non-lawyers from the Department interviewed and
provided representation to indigent clients on landlord-tenant and
family law areas that were prescreened to prevent a conflict of
interest.

     Reno said, "While service in the Department of Justice is
itself one of the highest forms of public service, the Department
further strives to increase access to justice for all and to
strengthen our communities."  

     To do this, the Attorney General encouraged Department
attorneys to set a personal goal of at least 50 hours per year of
pro bono legal and volunteer work by issuing a new Department
policy -- a first step to implementing President Clinton's recent
Executive Order directing federal agencies to develop appropriate
programs to facilitate pro bono legal and other volunteer service
by government employees on their own time.

     Reno personally thanked the first group of Department
employees who volunteered under the new pro bono policy.  "Making
the law real for all Americans is one of the greatest challenges we
face," said Reno.  "I know how hard everyone works here at the
Justice Department, and I want you to know how much I respect and
admire you for taking on these cases."

     D.C. Bar President Robert N. Weiner also thanked the
Department's volunteers and applauded the Attorney General's
efforts in encouraging government attorneys to provide help to the
District's needy.  "We are delighted that the Department of
Justice, the largest law firm in the country, is joining the 37
other firms participating in this clinic to deliver pro bono legal
services to the neediest members of our community,"  he said.  "The
Attorney General's leadership in establishing the Department's pro
bono program and encouraging Department attorneys to get involved
does honor to the highest traditions of our profession.  The
individual attorney volunteers already serve the public every day
as government lawyers.  As D.C. Bar President, I want to thank them
for their additional service to the community through this pro bono 
effort and for helping to secure access to justice for the poor in
D.C."

     The Department's volunteer attorneys and non-lawyer volunteers
were eager to assist in alleviating the legal services problems in
the District and found their experience rewarding, according to
Charlotte Grzebien, Assistant Counsel for the Office of Community
Oriented Policing Services and the Department's coordinator for the
project.  "The clinic night was a great first step in making a real
difference in the lives of some of our neighbors here in the
District," she said.

     PSAC Supervising Attorneys Mark Herzog and Jeanne Jones and
PSAC Director Maureen Thornton Syracuse, briefed Department
participants in a pre-clinic orientation session.
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