He believed he had the goods to sue his former employer for wrongful termination, but he didn't have money for a lawyer.
John Salgado took notes on a yellow legal pad and sorted through documents as the man made an animated pitch for help in Spanish. The man rambled for 43 minutes, but the seasoned attorney in a charcoal gray suit showed no signs of impatience.
Salgado had time to listen. He, too, is out of work.
• • •
Hold the lawyer jokes. The truth is, the legal profession hasn't been immune to this ugly economic slump.
Entry-level recruiting is down. Major firms alone have shed 8,000 attorneys and legal staff nationally since January, according to LawShucks.com, an industry Web site.
Instead of sitting idle in their slippers, a growing number of unemployed lawyers are signing on with public interest and legal aid organizations. Some of the attorneys receive a stipend from megafirms that deferred their promised employment after law school. Others work on a purely volunteer basis, driven by altruism and seeking a sense of purpose.
Whatever the motivation, the movement is turning the industry's bleeding into a boon for the cash-strapped law groups that serve low-income citizens.
"They are doing a tremendous service by volunteering," said Susan Sandler, pro bono manager for Bay Area Legal Services' volunteer lawyers program in Tampa. "We really were starving for help."
Gulfcoast Legal Services, which assists Pinellas County residents who cannot afford legal representation, also is reaping the benefits.