2007年VOA标准英语-Lawyers in Montgomery County Donate Time to Fre

By Jeffrey Young
Washington
19 June 2007
 

To most Americans, the governments in their towns and regional areas, called counties, are the governments they interact with the most.  And alongside these local governments are groups of citizens who work on their own to make life better.

In this segment of a multi-part series, VOA's Jeffrey Young focuses on lawyers in Montgomery County, Maryland who help people with limited access to the legal system resolve their problems.

Laws. Regulations. It's all so complicated. How can someone navigate² through the system? The Pro¹ Bono legal clinic can help.

In the Washington, D.C. suburb of Montgomery County, Maryland, a lawyers' group called the Bar Foundation has members who donate their time and provide help to people with legal problems.

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Harry Lewis, attorney

One of these attorneys, Harry Lewis, says the Foundation is upholding an American principle. "Really, what this clinic is all about is equal access to justice. Unfortunately, a lot of the people that are poor or of low means – a lot of immigrants coming to our country to work, for example – don't have equal access to the justice system."

In 2006, more than 2,000 people came to the Pro Bono legal clinic. The words "Pro Bono" are Latin and mean "for the good of" the community.

Attorney Mary Kay Canarte manages the program, which deals with a wide variety of legal issues. "We provide legal assistance in the areas of landlord-tenant housing, debt collection, bankruptcy⁴, family law matters, divorce, [child] custody⁵, [and] alimony requests.

Mary Kay Canarte provides legal services without charging fees

Canarte says that criminal cases are referred to a special county office that defends, without charging fees, people accused of crimes. And she also says that for a number of immigrant clients, the clinic provides the only legal help they have had since coming to the United States.

"Many of the people who come to our clinics have never spoken to a lawyer before,” she says. “They have absolutely no idea what the laws are. And this is their first opportunity to feel included and know what the laws are what protect their rights."

Jesse Foster says a financial nightmare prompted him to come to the Pro Bono clinic. "I'm here because it looks like I have to file for bankruptcy. But I don't have any money. And I talked to a lawyer about how much it would cost me to file for bankruptcy, and it blew me away [astonished me]. I was told that I could get free legal advice and possibly help from the legal clinic here,” he added.

The Pro Bono clinic also gets requests for help from workers – especially day laborers⁷ – who say they were cheated on the job. Attorney David Vega explains. "These employers pick them up [hire them], [and] promise them 15, 12, [or] 10 dollars an hour and wind up paying them nothing for their labor⁶. They wind up having to sue their employer. And that's expensive, so they come to us."

David, like a number of the Pro Bono attorneys, speaks several languages. That is important because a number of people who come to the clinic have little or no skill in English. 

The Bar Foundation says that the goal will always remain making sure that everyone in Montgomery County, regardless of income or ethnicity or legal status, has help in resolving their problems and to make sure that their rights are respected.

1 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

2 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

5 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言