Learning the “how” of practicing law is sometimes easier than figuring out the “why.” For legal aid attorney Charles McDaniel, the “why” is easy. That hasn’t always been the case. As a senior in college in Wilmington, N.C., McDaniel had a heart-to-heart with his grandfather about what he might do, and his grandfather suggested practicing law.
McDaniel considered the advice, and decided it was sound. In law school, McDaniel developed an interest in estate planning. However, as he began working at an elder law clinic during his third year in law school, the “why” was still missing. “I was asking myself, ‘Why am I in law school? Why didn’t I take a different path? Why didn’t I go into the family business?’” he says. When McDaniel saw the great need at the clinic, his questions disappeared like a sun-struck shadow. “That was my first introduction to legal aid. Seeing the people we helped and the results of our work caused me to change direction. No one else would have helped those people. I realized that was why I was in law school,” he says.
The elder law clinic not only gave McDaniel the “why” for which he’d been searching, it also taught him to expect the unexpected. “I helped a gentleman in his mid-nineties with child support issues related to his minor children. When you go to an elder law clinic, you expect to deal with wills and health care issues, and we did a lot of that, but that one case has stayed with me. No case surprises me now,” he says.
McDaniel attended law school in Memphis, Tenn., because it was halfway between his childhood home of Asheville, N.C., and Northwest Arkansas, where his wife’s family lived. The couple enjoyed the city, but preferred the mountains, so when Legal Aid of East Tennessee offered the newly minted McDaniel a job as a staff attorney, he snatched it up.
While McDaniel was a staff attorney, his caseload climbed as high as 50 as he handled matters involving family law, consumer law, tort defense and more.
And just like the legal clinic, each day’s work reminded him to expect the unexpected. “A poor person can have any problem you or I could have. You might not expect a poor person to have a boundary dispute, but it happens, and it can require a lawyer to fix,” McDaniel says. When former pro bono project director Meaghan Jones vacated the position, the opportunity to fill her seat went to McDaniel. He readily took on the new task – on the contingency he’d still be able to litigate cases. “That was important to me because I’m an attorney first and pro bono director second. My caseload is down to about 10, but they’re larger and more intensive cases,” McDaniel says. He mentions looking forward to an upcoming day in chancery court in Bradley County.
McDaniel’s duties as pro bono director are always waiting for him when he returns. Some days, he makes phone calls or sends out emails asking attorneys to take on cases. Other days involve scaling the mountain of paperwork Federal regulations require, such as sending a letter to each attorney that’s handle a case for Legal Aid inquiring about the status of the matter. Since Legal Aid handles about a thousand cases, preparing the letters is a monumental task. McDaniel handles the work like a pro, but redirects praise for his efforts to the attorneys who voluntarily take on cases for Legal Aid. “We have a great network of volunteer attorneys. It’s unusual when we don’t place a case. I don’t know how Legal Aid works in other cities, but I’d be surprised if their bars step up like ours does.” McDaniel believes there’s something inside of each lawyer that compels him or her to do pro bono work. “Every attorney wants to help people.
And these cases are a way for them to recharge their batteries and remember why they became lawyers,” he says. People become attorneys for other reasons, too, including the lifestyle it can afford. But as an attorney at Legal Aid, McDaniel will never charge hundreds of dollars an hour for his services or receive a big salary. That doesn’t bother him. “When I graduated from high school, I went to college, and when I graduated from college, I went to law school, and when I graduated from law school, I came here, so I don’t know what it’s like to make a huge amount of money. That’s not a big deal to me, so I don’t think about it.
My wife and I are comfortable, and we get to do the things we want, so we’re happy,” he says. On the list of things McDaniel and his wife, Stevie, enjoy are visiting family and taking advantage of the outdoor amenities Chattanooga has to offer, including fishing and hiking. McDaniel says he and his wife can’t imagine living anywhere else. And the 26-year-old McDaniel can’t imagine doing anything besides working for Legal Aid. He found his “why” in a legal clinic, and each day since then has only cemented the conviction that he’s on the right path for him. “I might have stumbled onto this path, but I’m glad I ended up on it. I don’t spend my days wondering why I went to law school.”