[blindlaw] Pomaro to host meeting for blind lawyers

[Tom Ladis]

  Pomaro to host meeting for blind lawyers
  By Maria Kantzavelos
  Law Bulletin staff writer




  Nicholas T. Pomaro is well aware of the difficulties associated with a 
tight job market for lawyers looking for work in the current economic 
climate.

  But those problems, he said, "are tenfold for a blind person."

  "This is not sour grapes. This is just a reality," said Pomaro, a retired 
Cook County associate judge and former prosecutor who is blind. "Blind 
people, in general, have difficulty in finding work because, if they are 
able to do the work, the natural fears that sighted people have of blind 
people - the assumption is, they can't do certain things."

  Pomaro, who has been blind since age six, was told by a school 
administrator during law school that he could never be a trial attorney 
because he couldn't see facial expressions of witnesses and jurors. He 
graduated from The John Marshall Law School in 1964 and for about a decade 
before he rose to the bench, Pomaro worked as an assistant Cook County 
state's attorney prosecuting criminal felony cases.

  "It's true. I can't see facial expressions; I can't see body language. But 
a well-dressed, beautiful woman isn't necessarily truthful," Pomaro said. "I 
think I get much more out of voice inflections than other people do. . You 
learn to compensate. I lack sight, but I think I've developed other 
instincts."

  Pomaro retired from the bench in 2005. Today, he runs the Kane Legal 
Clinic located at The Chicago Lighthouse, 1850 W. Roosevelt Road.

  The clinic provides free legal services to blind or visually impaired 
people on low-incomes who seek representation in matters such as those 
related to job discrimination, social security, tax issues, and other civil 
matters, as well as assistance in criminal defense.

  But beginning at 1:30 p.m. on June 3, the clinic is scheduled to be the 
place where visually impaired and blind lawyers in the Chicago area are to 
meet in an effort to share mutual concerns, as well as to gauge support for 
forming a local association of blind attorneys and blind people interested 
in pursuing careers in law.

  Pomaro is serving as the meeting's host.

  "The thought was, there are a number of blind attorneys in the Chicagoland 
area," he said. "I think many attorneys nowadays are struggling because of 
the economy. And I know there are people who are visually impaired and 
thinking of the law as a profession. I thought it might be a good idea to 
get visually impaired people who are lawyers, or interested in the law, to 
discuss problems or issues that are unique to the visually impaired 
community and, with those discussions, see if we can help people."

  The gathering will serve as a brainstorming session, Pomaro said, to 
explore ideas of how local blind lawyers could network and help one another.

  For example, "I don't know how good of an idea it is, but I have never 
heard of a law firm made up of blind attorneys," Pomaro said. "Usually 
attorneys have specialties, and maybe you can find three, four or five who 
have particular skills in particular areas of the law, and they can form a 
loose association and refer cases to each other, or help each other out, or 
form a law firm."

  The former judge also hopes the forum will provide inspiration to newer 
attorneys who are blind, or to blind people interested in pursuing a career 
in law.

  When Pomaro was starting out, he said, "It was very helpful to me to know 
that other blind people succeeded in other fields."

  By late last week, Pomaro said, about 20 visually impaired and blind law 
students and attorneys responded to his call for a meeting, including 
several veteran attorneys.

  "Letting people know that it can be done, that these are blind people who 
have made it in these various areas of the law, I think, is helpful to 
them," Pomaro said. "We're trying to give people hope. It was important to 
me, and I think it's important to everyone to have hope."

  Pomaro pointed out the existence of the National Association of Blind 
Lawyers, a membership organization of blind attorneys, law students, judges 
and others in the law field that provides support and information regarding 
employment, techniques used by the blind, advocacy, laws affecting the blind 
and other issues for blind lawyers. But he said he is not aware of an 
association for lawyers in the Chicago area.

  Anthony J. Thomas, an assistant Cook County public defender in the Felony 
Trial Division, serves as an officer in the National Association of Blind 
Lawyers. A local association for blind and visually impaired lawyers to 
share resources and expertise, he said, sounds like a good idea.

  "Attorneys who are blind have different kinds of issues with which to deal 
than does a sighted attorney," Thomas said. "And, other blind attorneys who 
have gone through the process of going to school and getting an education, 
and dealing with the job market and how people respond to you in the 
practice of law - all those things come into play. And sometimes people can 
share information in terms of how to problem solve when certain situations 
arise."

  Assistant U.S. Attorney Yusef A. Dale, who was legally blind at birth and 
became totally blind at age 23, said there are plenty "tricks of the trade" 
that could be shared via a local association of blind lawyers.

  "There are blind lawyers who are practicing successfully out here," Dale 
said. "That's one of the reasons this organization is needed - to bridge 
that gap and exchange ideas of how best to bridge that gap."

  Blind lawyers, Dale said, generally have a disproportionate difficulty in 
getting hired, "Particularly because it's commonly believed, incorrectly so, 
that sight is paramount to being a good lawyer because it is so print 
driven."

  The federal prosecutor who serves in the financial crimes and special 
prosecutions unit in Chicago said being prepared with "all your tools in 
your tool box" is key to making it work. Those tools, he said, could be the 
technology tools such as computers with Braille keyboards and special screen 
reading software, as well as human resources.

  Thomas counts himself among the fortunate ones in that he was hired for 
the one job for which he applied after law school. He has been serving in 
the public defender's office since 1986.

  "My situation is not typical of most people," he said. "Most people I have 
talked to have told stories about how they've interviewed at dozens of 
places and have been shut out."

  Thomas has been totally blind since he was 8. Born with glaucoma and no 
sight in his left eye and limited sight in his right eye, he was totally 
blinded when he was struck in the right eye while wrestling with another 
boy.

  As a trial lawyer who appears each day in the Criminal Courts Building at 
26th Street and California Avenue, Thomas has an assistant who has been 
hired by the county to read and write for him. The assistant also 
accompanies him to court, as well as to investigations of crime scenes and 
to interviews with clients and witnesses.

  "One of the things that I've experienced in my practice is that many 
people who are surprised when they meet me and discover I'm blind, after 
they talk to me for a few minutes, whatever feelings of trepidation they 
might have had dissipated," Thomas said.

  Thomas said he has mentored many blind people interested in practicing 
law. He often finds himself offering this advice: "If you believe in 
yourself and if you project a positive, confident demeanor and image to your 
client, your client will not see you as a blind lawyer, your client will see 
you as their lawyer."

  "What you are doing for the client starts in your mind," Thomas said. "The 
client has to believe in you. And the client cannot believe in you if you 
don't believe in yourself."

  For more information about the upcoming meeting for blind lawyers and 
students, call Pomaro at (312) 666-1331, ext. 3112.