Agudath Israel network of pro bono lawyers helps when no one else will T By YOSSI KRAUSZ


wo parents fought over a boy from the time of his birth, with his father pulling him away from Yiddishkeit and his mother pulling him back. Who could step into the battle? The two scenes overlap in your mind’s eye.


A boy sways slowly in a small house in rural Kansas. His concentration is exquisite, as if he were in a shul, davening along with the congregation.


At the same time, a tall gray-haired man speaks confidently before a judge in a court- room in Kansas City. His genteel Midwestern voice doesn’t falter although the boy’s father, seated in the courtroom, glowers at him. Behind the two scenes lies a difficult story. A Jewish boy, fought over for years by his parents, was put several years ago into the cus- tody of his no-longer-religious father, who insisted that the boy violate Halacha. Later, the boy was taken into the custody of social ser- vices and placed in a home that was over 50 miles from a synagogue. His mother did not have the resources to fight the constant legal battles with her ex-husband. The young man’s Yiddishkeit was at stake. Who would fight for him? And who would be willing to fight for this young man for over 10 years? The final salvation in this case came in the form of a prestigious Kansas lawyer, a man 80 years of age, named Eugene Balloun. A


Agudath Israel General Counsel Mordecai Biser (left), the “backbone” of the organization’s Legal Support Services (LSS), and Bruce Listhaus, managing partner at Gorlick, Kravitz, & Listhaus, P.C. and a member of the board of directors of the LSS.


cent and well-meaning mistreatment. Often to fight back requires entering the


legal arena. But legal fees can be dauntingly high.


The Agudah got involved in a tznius (modesty) issue for an African- American Seventh Day Adventist. She ‘was told by the MTA that she had to wear pants on the job, not a skirt. We saw that as a case that affected us as well, so we got involved and helped her.’


Methodist, Balloun says, “I learned a lot about Orthodox Jews during this case.” Balloun has expended hundreds of hours toward this case, with an astonishing amount of legal work pro- vided at a substantially reduced fee. But behind Balloun’s successes, there are a group of lawyers who made his fight possible, a group of lawyers who have been fighting and coordinating similar cases across the country, helping to provide help for those who cannot afford it and, at the same time, help all of Jewry.


W


e are all vulnerable. As Orthodox Jews, we face special challenges living in the


general population. With a lifestyle not under- stood by the non-Jewish and non-Orthodox public, and with a Torah that dictates actions (or inactions) that may conflict with the assumptions of the world at large, we can often face victimization, discrimination or even inno-


8 JEWISH TRIBUNE • JANUARY 20-26, 2012


One rainy evening, Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter and I made our way to the offices of Agudath Israel of America, on Broadway in Lower Manhattan. As the rain fell, a group of Occupy Wall Street protestors was standing in the newly cleared Zuccotti Park, umbrellas up and just standing there.


At the end of our


interview, it occurred to me that the con- trast between the activists we met at the Agudah and those out in the rain couldn’t be bigger. Those out in the park were quixotically demonstrating for a cause that made news


but showed no sign of moving toward results; those upstairs with us shunned the limelight, but aimed, without hesitation, to truly change the world.


Up in the Agudah’s offices, we sat with Mordechai Biser and Bruce Listhaus, as they described the new Agudath Israel Legal Support Services (LSS). Biser is the Agudah’s general counsel; Listhaus is the managing part- ner at Gorlick, Kravitz, & Listhaus, P.C., a gen- eral practice law firm with a focus on labor and employment law. He is a member of the board of directors of the LSS. The Agudah has been involved in legal mat- ters, of course, for a great many years. The Agudah’s legal arm has filed amicus curiae briefs (so-called friend-of-the-court briefs) in countless cases and has been involved in draft- ing legislation for years. Very important laws and court cases have been influenced by the Agudah’s actions.


And even with regard to private people’s


legal problems, for over 10 years the Agudah has been working to find lawyers to help those who cannot pay for their legal needs. But with the incorporation of the LSS approximately 18 months ago, the program to help these people has become an official, formal effort, and has greatly expanded.


As Listhaus made clear at the outset, the


lawyers who are involved in litigating cases for the LSS are not Agudah staff; they are all vol- unteers, providing pro bono work. But Mordechai Biser and his support staff — intake coordinator Chaya Chava Shulman and staff attorney Shlomo Cahn — are the backbone of the program, finding the lawyers and making sure that the cases are being followed through. That task is a gargantuan one itself. “There’s a misconception in the communi-


ty,” said Biser, “that we have lawyers on staff who are ready to jump into court on a moment’s notice and litigate cases. We have lawyers on staff who cannot, for legal reasons, represent anyone in court.


“What we do have is a network of attor- neys around the country who make themselves available to take on cases, sometimes for reduced rates and not for free, sometimes pro bono. Just because we call them doesn’t mean they are going to take the case.” There are now about 450 lawyers in that net-


work.


Who do they help? “We have clear guidelines for who we can help. There has to be a religious component to the case, where there’s a communal interest or a religious observance being threatened or


something similar.” Listhaus ticked off the three major types of cases. “Most of the cases revolve around end- of-life issues; employment issues, where an employee is being discriminated against; and matrimonial cases. Those are primarily child custody cases, where the two parents were frum at one time and then one becomes non- observant and they end up in a bitter divorce, with the person who is still maintaining their religious beliefs fighting with every ounce of strength to keep the kids in yeshiva and to make sure they are brought up frum. Because the par- ent on the other end was once frum, he or she will continue fighting until the bitter end.” The pro bono or reduced-fee work is for those who cannot pay legal fees, but Biser points out that the Agudah can also refer those who need a lawyer — and can afford to pay one — to an appropriate choice for their situation.


L


isthaus has been involved in the Kansas case for more than 10 years; he was the person who first brought the case to the Agudah’s attention. We were rather shocked to hear that a case had dragged on that long, but he said that the courts in Kansas were not quite as sympathetic to Orthodox Jews as New York courts, for example, would be. “This case was unusually protracted for a number of reasons. There were a number of children involved. There was also a great deal of belligerence between the parties. Throughout the proceedings, the father tried to portray Orthodox Judaism as a cult. There was the additional complication of litigating in two states. At the outset the mother had sole cus- tody of the children here in New York, and for a period of approximately two years, we were successful in getting the New York courts to assert jurisdiction and keep the case here. “Most of the credit for those successes lies with Shlomo Mostofsky, a seasoned and well known matrimonial attorney within the com- munity. Ultimately, a New York State judge


Disputes between a patient’s family and the hospital have become increasingly common. ‘Simply having an attorney show up for a meeting at a hospital has on several occasions resulted in an abrupt about-face in the hospital’s position.’


ruled that jurisdiction belonged in Kansas and transferred the case back there. At that time, the Kansas Court took exception to our utilizing the New York legal system to our advantage and awarded sole custody to the father and ruled that the children move back to Kansas. After working with a number of local lawyers there and suffering a few setbacks, we finally


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16