The Natural (Bernard Malamud won’t mind

By Mark Eggleston

Mark Eggleston chairs Capital Pro Bono, Inc.’s Advisory Committee. He can be contacted at eggkram@gmail.com

Clutching 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 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 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

[CPB] 10 years later. It goes to show you that you never know what opportunities will come your way, especially if you are doing something you enjoy and believe in. I was very lucky to have found my niche at legal aid.”

To briefly review this “fit” then, is altogether fitting. In 1993, while a volunteer on the CPB Advisory Committee, Vicki chaired a fundraiser called “Sacto Law Night,” a 350-person sold-out silent-auction event at which the actor Richard Dysart, from the television show “L.A. Law,” was the keynote speaker. At the time, “L.A. Law” was one of the hottest tickets in television. If you don’t believe me, check with your colleagues who attended law school in the 1990’s— see how many were there, at least in part, because of this show.

In 2002, working with Russell Austin in her Managing Attorney capacity, Vicki secured more sustained funding for CPB from one of its sponsors, the Sacramento County Bar Association (SCBA). She also achieved similar good fortune, working with Gary Smith of LSNC, another CPB sponsor. Legal services funding is a roller coaster. Even saying IOLTA in a rhythmic way has a certain up-and-down quality to it. Try it. More recently, cy pres funding has helped. And Galen Shimoda and his law firm— Galen having interned under Vicki years ago—have generously directed cy pres funds to CPB. There is an old saying in legal aid work— not really, I think I just coined it— that cy pres funding sure beats sigh, pray funding.

Galen Shimoda’s experience with Vicki and VLSP illustrates another point—those who work with her commit to her. Take Heather Tiffee, for example. Heather is CPB’s new Managing Attorney, after having worked with Vicki for 20 years, the two wonderfully complementing each other during that span. As a volunteer-based outfit, CPB has but a small paid staff, but that staff is loyal and committed to doing its best. The same goes for CPB’s volunteers, the hub of the entire enterprise.

That staff and those volunteers have allowed Vicki to direct services to the greatest need. Vicki added a clinic model to CPB’s traditional lawyer-client focus to serve greater numbers in employment, debt, bankruptcy, probate, and family law matters. She established the Civil Self-Help Center in 2007 at the Sacramento County Superior Court, one of the first in the state to handle general civil litigation, not simply family or probate law. She has had CPB help vulnerable children through guardianships. And Vicki had CPB doing criminal records expungement, juvenile records sealing, and driver’s license reinstatement before it became the next cool thing.

How many of you, I ask, have had to deal with someone taking up residence on the sidewalk just outside your office window? Vicki has. And she handled the situation with her characteristic compassion and practicality.

For her work at CPB, Vicki has received several “major awards”—the genuine article too, not like the one in that movie classic, “A Christmas Story.” Among these: the State Bar’s Pro Bono Service Award, the California Women Lawyers’ Fay Stender Prize, the SCBA’s Distinguished Attorney of the Year, and the St. Thomas More Society’s Father McDermott Integrity Award. That last one, not bad for a Jewish girl.

Yoshinoro (“Toso”) Himel, a CPB Advisory Committee member since its inception 40 years ago, has observed Vicki throughout her entire CPB venture, and notes, “When Vicki had a boutique law firm, she volunteered as a member of the [CPB] Advisory Committee. Then she joined the staff as the Managing Attorney. She managed the organization with fiscal prudence, keeping a sharp eye on reserves through deficit and surplus times. She also showed compassion in her dealings with staff members. The transition from VLSP to CPB reflected a foundation well-laid by Vicki for the organization’s future.”

And Russell Austin echoes, “Vicki Jacobs has been the driving force behind the continued success of VLSP/CPB for over 20 years. Both our bar association and our community have benefited from Vicki’s vision and leadership of this critically important program, and Vicki has ensured that the program will remain in capable hands in the future under Heather Tiffee’s leadership.”

Vicki wants to thank too many to name here individually, but she gives a special shout-out to Judge Jim Mize and former SCBA President Tom Eres for founding CPB; to Gary Smith of LSNC and the entire LSNC executive team; to Russell Austin for decades of unflagging support; to Galen Shimoda’s firm for its generosity; and to CPB’s staff, volunteers, and donors. Finally, Vicki gratefully notes that CPB is lucky “to have Heather Tiffee assume the position of Managing Attorney at CPB. Heather has been with CPB since her first year of law school 20 years ago and she has the knowledge, experience, and dedication to successfully lead CPB into the future. I couldn’t be more pleased with our succession plan and am looking forward to coming back to CPB solely as a volunteer attorney providing client services working under Heather’s guidance.”

Well done, Vicki.