VLSP Volunteer of the Month David Fox
by Mary Cook

When President John F. Kennedy exhorted Americans to "ask what you can do for your country," David Fox took the words to heart. He decided to become a lawyer. "I wanted to make a difference," he said. After graduating in political science from the California State University, Sacramento, he attended law school at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. "Seven years straight through -- same hitch as the French Foreign Legion," he quipped, leaning back in his chair. It's Tuesday evening and Fox has settled in behind a desk at VLSP for the Debt Collection Defense Clinic.

Since joining VLSP in the summer of 2000, Fox has volunteered regularly at the clinic and also taken on cases for direct representation. His VLSP cases are "good mental exercise," he said. "In my practice I do 90 percent bankruptcy and a little probate. When I come to the clinic, I also get landlord/tenant cases and repossessions, for example. I also get to bounce ideas off the other attorneys here, and I like that; it's interesting."

Fox's most memorable VLSP client was a 65 year-old chimney sweep whose wages were being garnished to pay for a two-day hospital stay that cost him $12,000. "He once was a Kansas farm boy," Fox said. "His reaction, when he got a hernia, was to cinch his belt tighter and get back to work cleaning chimneys. When it got bad enough that he couldn't walk, his wife took him to the hospital. The hospital sued him for the bill, and he didn't even realize he'd suffered a judgment. He brought me his pay stub and I asked him about a $100 charge being deducted from it, and he couldn't even see the print." Fox was able to get his client's debt discharged. "And I got a thank you note from him," Fox said.

Other clients he has helped at the clinic include "the whole graveyard shift" at a local hospital. "They were people who'd gone to one of these check cashing places to get an advance on their paychecks and then wound up on the check advance treadmill with 300 percent APR," he said, shaking his head.

A solo practitioner for the last four years, Fox began his career as an associate in a Sacramento firm in 1974. Four or five years of long hours at the firm left him burned out, so for the next dozen years he worked as a corporate contract manager.

"Then I went to New Mexico for a mid-life crisis -- and I was very successful at it," he confided, laughing. Called back to Sacramento when his mother became ill sick several years ago, Fox plans to stay in the city. "I'm fairly content," he reflected. "I've written poetry, started two novels I haven't finished. I do wish I could buy a sailboat. Sailing teaches you patience: If there's no wind, you're not going anywhere. You realize there are forces beyond your control -- a good lesson in the law, too."

If you are interested in joining VLSP, please call (916) 551-2123.