Colorado Lawyer Jan 2019: Colorado Poverty
Law Project - Providing Hope for the Defenseless and Oppressed
On June 6, 1966, Senator Robert F. Kennedy spoke at South Africa’s University of Cape Town and said,
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.” Perhaps recognizing the ripple of hope that is created when individuals fight for the defenseless, the Colorado Supreme Court Oath of Admission asks future attorneys to swear to “use their knowledge for the betterment of society and the improvement of the legal
system” and to “never reject... the cause of the defenseless or oppressed.” 1
This portion of the Oath of Admission, which is mandatory for all attorneys to be admitted to the Colorado bar, embodies the professional responsibility of each Colorado attorney “to provide legal services to those unable to pay.” 2
Indeed, the official comments to Colorado Rule of Professional Conduct (Rule) 6.1 provide that “[e]very lawyer, regardless of professional prominence or professional workload, has a responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay.” 3 This is because there exists in Colorado a “critical need for legal services” among “persons of limited means” and the “disadvantaged.” 4