The Preferential Option for the Poor beyond Theology

Chapter 12: Closing Argument

229 C h a P T e r 1 2 Closing argument PaT MalOney, sr. at the end of a long career as a trial lawyer i take this opportunity to be a final witness and give testimony to the preferential option for the poor, for while i did not always have this name to give to the overarching motivation of my life’s work, i have nevertheless tried to live out my understanding of it. My impending death due to terminal illness has had a way of putting things into perspective and of helping me be present to daily life. One of the great blessings of my situation is that i do not have anything more to prove, no more social benchmarks to attain, no more people to impress, no more political games to play. This is tremendously liberating and allows me the luxury of speaking my mind with impunity. i hope that in this closing argument i can present the challenges and rewards of my profession to those about to embark upon it, for it is a profession in which the harvest of justice can be truly plentiful but, regrettably, the workers on behalf of the poor and marginalized are indeed few. MOTive with the benefit of hindsight i can see that in some seminal way the impetus of my legal advocacy for others began with my father. a shoe salesman earning about twenty-five dollars a week, he was a kind and good 230 Pat Maloney, Sr. man, but he was also an alcoholic. we were poor because his salary, meager to begin with, did not often make it home intact. we did not want to deny him the pleasure of a good drink, but we did not want him to deny us the necessity of food, clothing, and shelter. negotiating this as a child planted the seeds of what it meant to lobby on behalf of the needs and rights of others. The seeds took root in my military service during the second world war as i realized that my fellow Marines, mostly poor or underprivileged like me, were fighting a war that others created. upon reflection, i believe that being a child of the Depression and a young man of world war ii guided the formulation of basic principles such as the value of relationships, an admiration for the downtrodden and disadvantaged , the importance of our nation, and the significance of championing civil rights. i finished law school in 1950 and took a job with the district attorney ’s office in Bexar County, Texas. as a prosecutor i often landed in the courtroom of Judge eugene williams, who was a great friend to the poor and underprivileged. he was the soul of fairness and dedication to the pursuit of justice while on the bench. his advice to counsel who came before him was “show me your solution is fair and you’ll probably have my support.” That i too was an officer of the court with a primary responsibility to see that the results were just penetrated deeply into my modus operandi. it is the poor and marginalized—even more than others—who need a fair judicial system, and it was in the Da’s office that i internalized my responsibility and obligation to see that they receive a fair trial regardless of the sometimes incompetent and indifferent representation assigned to them. These lessons laid the foundation for the private practice that i began several years later and have continued throughout my career. Means in my practice i had the power and the duty to ensure that my clients had the best possible representation. Dedication to this cause, rather than resting upon the potential for a large commercial return, required a moral ethic of protection of the innocent and the maintenance of truth and justice. Making sure my clients were being tried on a level legal playing field was an uphill battle. The rule of law was often against us. Contribu- Closing argument 231 tory negligence, for example, meant that if there was any negligence, even as little as 1 percent, against the victim, no financial recovery was possible .1 There were other unpalatable features of our legal system during this time. no women were allowed to serve on juries,2 and i have found that women make by far the best jurors for the poor and deprived. a poll tax was required...