Law Graduates Pay for Public Counsel

Harvard Law School graduates who pledged last year to contribute at least 1 per cent of their future incomes to the Equal Justice Foundation (EJF) made their first payments last month.

Seven per cent of last year's Law School class made the pledge to the foundation, which will fund public interest lawyers.

About 150 1978 graduates of 17 law schools, including Boston College, Boston University and Northeastern, pledged money to the foundation, which law students began with the support of Ralph Nader and the Council for Public Interest Law.

Members have submitted 60 of 160 expected checks amounting to about $5000, Noreen L. Hession, an EJF organizer, said yesterday.

Although members pledged $20,000 last year, the foundation will not affect the justice system until it collects $100,000, Douglas H. Phelps, administrator for public service and career development at the Law School and EJF executive director, said yesterday. He added he expects the percentage of graduates joining EJF to rise in the future.

Phelps said EJF's work will include litigation and drafting legislation aimed to "remove organizational, representational and procedural barriers to public interest group participation in the legal system."

The American Bar Association code of professional responsibility mandates that a lawyer assist in making counsel available and improving the legal system, but "the obligation is one that arises independent of the canons," Phelps said.

Many lawyers and professors have endorsed the foundation but declined to pledge money. "It's not as hypocritical as it sounds. Once someone has been out a few years he becomes heavily extended," Phelps added.

As the funds from last year's drive arrive, this year's drive is already underway.

Nader and former attorney general Ramsey Clark plan to tour the various Boston law schools in March to promote the foundation, Hession said yesterday.

A report of the Council for Public Interest Law said 1975 budgets for tax exempt public interest law centers totalled less than the combined revenues of two major Wall Street firms.