Four days a week, the Voluntary Legal Services Program offers a pro per clinic to assist low-income clients with criminal record expungements and driver's license reinstatements. Several years ago, as welfare reform programs were beginning across the country, Sacramento County officials realized that driver's license suspensions and criminal records for misdemeanors and minor felonies were obstacles to employment for a significant number of people. The Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance asked VLSP and Legal Services of Northern California to create a program to help address these obstacles. The clinic opened in January of 2000, coordinated by Jim Reilley, a graduate of San Francisco Law School. Originally scheduled once a week to give people advice on expungements and once a week to give advice on driver's license reinstatements, the clinic has expanded tremendously in its first year. Two clients attended the first clinic; in October of 2000, Reilley served two hundred people. Now held four days a week at sites around the city, it is easily one of the busiest of VLSP's clinics.

Successfully getting a license reinstated or a criminal record expunged requires the ability to navigate a complex bureaucracy. Ultimately, the clinic is helping clients achieve economic independence, but the problems involved in doing so can be frustrating and circular: The government wants to move people off of public support, and people want to work, but with even a minor criminal conviction on record, it can be impossible to get employment-forcing people to rely on public assistance. A driver's license suspension has the same result. Without a license, one is ineligible for jobs that require driving-and Reilley points out that driving is a common part of many jobs, especially for men seeking entry-level employment. But even if people can find jobs, it's often not possible to get to them on public transportation.

Reilley emphasizes that the people he sees in the clinic have made mistakes and have paid the legal price for those mistakes. Those with criminal records have been on probation or spent time in county jail; those who have had their licenses revoked have completed traffic school or mandatory community service activities. In the overwhelming majority of license suspension cases, a client has received a ticket, but has then failed to pay the fine or appear in court. If people default on payments because they can't pay the fines, the Department of Motor Vehicles is notified by the court to revoke their licenses. Losing a license can make it impossible for a client to get to work, making it still more difficult to pay the fine and have the license reinstated. As Reilley points out, "We tell people they need to get off welfare and get jobs, but then we erect institutional barriers to doing that. I have guys sitting in my office who have offers of jobs that pay fourteen, fifteen dollars an hour, and they can't take the job because they can't get their license back." The system benefits neither the court nor the clients. Reilley suggests that the solution is to create a restricted license: Barring driver safety issues, such a license would be valid only for traveling between home and work, until all fines are paid and all court requirements are met.

Attorney Dennise Henderson, a longtime VLSP volunteer, particularly remembers a clinic client who had built a solid reputation with an employer who knew of her minor criminal record. A police officer investigated her record during an attempt to arrest her, and although he had no probable cause for arrest, he did contact her employer regarding her record. The employer, made nervous by the police involvement, decided to fire the woman. Henderson says, "The people at the clinic are people who want to get back on their feet; they want to work, and they're being held back by their records."

Although there is clearly an incredible demand for the expungement and license reinstatement clinic, it is very much in need of volunteers. When Reilley was hired as the clinic coordinator, his role was supposed to be purely an administrative one-but when the number of clients kept increasing, and a sufficient number of volunteers did not appear, he found a way to do much of the work himself. Still, he says, "We have a great need for volunteer attorneys, paralegals-I can even train law students." The work involves helping people assess their situations and figure out what they need to do to resolve their problem. "It's very gratifying," Reilley says, "I see people get their licenses, or clean up criminal records and get jobs."

Henderson gives great reasons for doing pro bono work through VLSP: "It gives you back much more than you ever give. My experience has been that it's the best day of my week. I love my clients-they're people I really care about." Besides being a personally enriching experience, Henderson points out that volunteering is a terrific opportunity for professional growth. "You're going to meet people who have the same interests, and you make connections. Volunteering looks great on a resume; when I applied for a job I think my volunteer experience made a huge difference." And she adds, "I think pro bono work is part of being an attorney, it's part of being a public servant. We take an oath to uphold the law and to serve, and I don't take that oath lightly."

If you are interested in volunteering for the expungement and license reinstatement clinic, please contact Jim Reilley at (916)551-2155, or at the Central City Career Center clinic site at (916) 264-3372.