Gary Baum

PRO BONO MATCH CONGRATULATES GARY BAUM FOR RECEIVING THE 2007 SCCBA PRO BONO SERVICE AWARD The 2007 recipient of the Santa Clara County Bar Association Pro Bono Service Award is Palo Alto City Attorney, Gary Baum. To determine the Pro Bono Award recipient, the SCCBA considers three factors: 1) Provision of direct legal services to indigent members of our community; 2) Additional service to improving the practice of law by service on boards of legal service agencies or bar associations; or service to organizations who serve the needy; or pro tem service to the courts; and 3) Additional service improving the practice of law and/or serving organizations that serve persons of limited means.

Gary Baum is an outstanding example of all three areas: Gary has served as a judge pro tem for our local superior court and for small claims court; Gary has served on the Board of Trustees for the SCCBA and on many committees, including serving on and co-chairing the SCCBA Judiciary Ccommittee; Gary is a current board member of the Silicon Valley Campaign for Legal Services and is also a generous donor to the Campaign.

Those things alone would be laudable, but Gary really shines with his direct representation of pro bono clients. He is an ideal example of how to use your professional skill to give back to those who need it most. Gary has worked for years with different programs at the Pro Bono Project of Silicon Valley. Most recently, Gary became involved in the DVLSR Program designed to assist victims of domestic violence to obtain restraining orders and related orders for their safety. Gary started with the DVLSR program at its first training in 2005 and has continually handled cases since then in areas that are not a part of his regular legal practice. Cases that Gary has handled include protecting a mother and child from a dangerous boyfriend and defending an immigrant woman against a vindictive request for sanctions for a missed hearing when the woman was in the hospital.

Gary has also shown an ongoing commitment to pro bono. He was one of the first individual attorneys to sign the SCCBA’s Pro Bono Pledge, pledging to provide at least 60 hours over the next year in direct pro bono services and service to organizations serving the legal needs of indigent clients. He does all of the work on his pro bono cases in his spare time or uses vacation time. In a Palo Alto newspaper story, he confirmed that the City of Palo Alto pays for nothing-not even postage.

The SCCBA is delighted to shine its Pro Bono Spotlight on Gary Baum.