FEATURE ARTICLE
The Natural (Bernard Malamud won’t mind) By Mark Eggleston
C
lutching in one hand a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford, and in the other hand a law degree from UCLA, Vicki Jacobs could get her foot in many doors. But the door she chose to walk through for most of her career—after spending several years in private practice, including a partnership—was the door at Voluntary Legal Services Program (VLSP). And VLSP was never the same. Indeed, VLSP became Capital Pro Bono (CPB) during Vicki’s tenure. (VLSP became CPB to lessen confusion with Legal Services
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of Northern California (LSNC) and to describe its program more understandably; in this article, CPB and VLSP will be used interchangeably.) Vicki’s tenure with CPB has been an enduring one: 10 years as a volunteer on CPB’s Advisory Committee, followed by 20 years atop CPB’s staff as its Managing Attorney. For those counting, that is three decades. Vicki’s success at CPB has a lot to do with Vicki’s character. Anyone who knows Vicki knows she is a character. But I am referring
SACRAMENTO LAWYER | Fall 2021 | www.sacbar.org
Mark Eggleston chairs Capital Pro Bono, Inc.’s Advisory Committee. He can be contacted at eggkram@gmail.com
here to deeper things. I see Vicki as an idealist, but a pragmatic one. She’s got heart, but she’s also tough-minded when necessary. There is a lot of heartache in the legal services world, but to do the most good for the most people requires an ability to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to determining what realistically can be done. Vicki has that ability. As Vicki reflects, “Little did I know when I joined the [CPB] Advisory Committee in 1991 that I would come to join the staff at
