Local attorney Morgan Bentley is the managing partner at Sarasota’s Bentley Goodrich Kison, where his practice focuses on business litigation and real estate disputes. A longtime Legal Aid of Manasota volunteer who was involved in our founding in 1990, Bentley has a long list of accomplishments, including tenures as president of the Sarasota County Bar Association, president of the Sarasota County Bar Association’s Young Lawyer Division, president of Legal Aid of Manasota, member of the Florida Bar Board of Governors’ Young Lawyer Division, member of the Executive Council of Florida Bar’s General Practice Section, chair for Manatee County Chamber of Commerce School Issues Committee, chair of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee, chair of the Sarasota Tiger Bay Club, director of Bay Area Legal Services, and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Association.
Bentley has also made a generous pledge to help Legal Aid of Manasota continue our life-changing work. In this candid interview, he discusses Legal Aid of Manasota’s history, how the practice of law has changed over the years, and why young attorneys should get involved (it may not be why you think!).
Legal Aid was founded in 1990, and the Florida Supreme Court recommends a donation of $350 a year or 20 hours of pro bono work. Initially, lawyers stepped up—now participation is diminishing. Why?
“I think it’s part of an evolution of societal norms—there is less acknowledgement of civic duty. You see that across the spectrum. This isn’t anything new for lawyers, and you probably see it in the medical profession, as well.
“There’s also the fact that the legal profession has become way more competitive than it was 30 years ago. Even 30 years ago, old guys were complaining about new lawyers and all these new law schools. Back then [we were worried about] competing against people overseas. Now you’re competing against chat GPT. The days of having your mom-and-pop accountant shop do your taxes are over. You see this in accounting and real estate. Travel agents have long gone extinct. All of this is driven by the Internet.
“Law is no exception. It’s not just because of the Internet and the ability to Google answers and get forms and do all the things lawyers used to do. Now there’s outfits like LegalZoom. TV ads will say you can get your estate plan done for $199. Those are direct undercuts of what the traditional law firm used to do. The margins are much smaller now—and so [lawyers] feel a lot less desire to spend their money doing anything else. And it’s only going to get worse.”
Is that because of AI?
“Yeah, and because every other business is suffering from the same thing, so everyone’s looking to cut margins. The days of, ‘Hey, we’re going to assign 10 associates to work on this giant case’ are gone. The whole economic structure of traditional law firms where there’s this hierarchical pyramid is disappearing, if it’s not gone already.”
So how do we get attorneys involved in supporting Legal Aid of Manasota—specifically young attorneys?
“There are three reasons to do it, all relating to making more money.
“No. 1 is talking about credibility. Probably half of non-criminal cases involve pro se people [people who are representing themselves]. Judges are highly aware of that because they have to deal with it. So when they see an attorney coming in and trying to alleviate that burden, they think, ‘That’s one of the good guys right there. He’s trying to help the system.’ Any [pro bono] help they get, they’re grateful for. That earns you all kinds of brownie points, which is great, because how else do you distinguish yourself when you first start out? That is the fastest way to do it.
“No. 2 is pro bono work is a great way to get out from the pack—you get to do your own trials. I’m sure bigger firms, especially, will be happy to let you run with that, which is great. My first trial was a pro bono trial, and the only reason I got to do it was because it was pro bono. If it was a paying client, it would have been a partner.
“And the third is bonding with other attorneys. At Legal Aid, we used to have little clinics. It was kind of a pain because you had to take a Saturday morning to attend, but it was also great because you’re sitting with all kinds of lawyers who are doing the exact same thing. You never would have met them otherwise. You can guarantee that they now know who you are and will refer you [cases] because they sat in the clinic with you for three-and-a-half hours.”
We know that LAM serves low-income in Sarasota and Manatee counties who cannot afford an attorney to handle their civil legal emergencies. Can you talk about affordability for low-income people?
“I ask attorneys, ‘Could afford yourself if you ran into trouble?’ The answer for most is no. It’s not like having insurance. You don’t have Blue Cross Blue Shield for your legal problems. If you were building a house and the build went bad, or there was an estate litigation after your parents died, or any of the things that happen to everyone—including lawyers— happened to you, and someone said, ‘You have to write a check for $100,000 to a law firm to litigate this case,’ could you do it? For most people, the answer is no—or ‘I could, but it’s really going to hurt.’”
“There is an ethical obligation to provide services to our low-income neighbors. Three hundred and fifty dollars is not too much money to contribute to legal aid yearly. Imagine not being able to go to a hospital if you’re sick or injured because you don’t have the money.”
Why is Legal Aid of Manasota unique—and how should we distinguish ourselves?
“Legal Aid makes [attorneys’] lives easier. It’s a huge time saver for practicing lawyers. The more pro bono cases Legal Aid takes, the fewer calls we get. It takes a lot of time to sift through these calls. Making more money and making your professional life better is all connected to Legal Aid. If my receptionist has the ability to screen a call and send the person to Legal Aid, that person is happy and I’m happy because they have a place to go and I don’t waste [time] in my day. It seems cold and mercenary, but it’s true.
“And, of course, the other part is the functioning of the legal system itself. All cases have to be heard. If they’re just floundering and not going anywhere and there’s no process, my case doesn’t get heard, either.
“All of the things I’m saying sound very self-centered, but they’re true. Pro bono work or donating to Legal Aid doesn’t have to be a higher calling. I look at it as a practical thing. You notice I haven’t said one thing about doing good things in the world!”
And you’re saying all this as someone who was part of Legal Aid of Manasota’s inception.
“Yes, and we’re unique. Most legal aid organizations are an offshoot of a federal program. Florida has big [legal aid offices] in Orlando and Tampa that cover huge areas, and there’s a need for it.
“Why is Legal Aid of Manasota so important to Sarasota and Manatee counties? Because we created it. It wasn’t a state or federal mandate. We founded it and it’s unique to us. It’s our legal system that we created. We did this.”
We’re also hyper-local.
“Right. Again, there’s broad societal evolution and the most obvious example is media. It used to be that you had your local paper that you got in the morning and the afternoon, and it would have everything you wanted—national news and local news and sports and everything else. That concept has shattered. Now you’ve got two or three outlets. You’ve got national news outlets and hyper-local ones.
“So, in a way, Legal Aid of Manasota is like a super-local media outlet. It is focused, by definition, only on Sarasota and Manatee counties. The lawyers you get are from Sarasota and Manatee. The cases you get are from Sarasota and Manatee. The issues relate to the judges in Sarasota and Manatee.
“Legal Aid of Manasota is ours. We can do whatever it is that we want—or not.”
What about asking firms to establish pro bono plans?
“Back in the ’90s, when Legal Aid was founded, we said, ‘You can give $350 in lieu of [donating time] to Legal Aid of Manasota, or we could come up with [pro bono] plans for law firms.’ I was at Williams Parker at the time, and we submitted the first firm plan. It had 11 components to it, and cases would get referred within those 11 components, and it worked out really well. But then, as the years passed, some firms started asking, ‘Where’s the monetary return on this?’ I was like, ‘Whoa, what happened?’”
Any final thoughts?
“We live in a distrustful world, and [lawyers] have to make sure that we are doing our part to maintain the trust of the public—giving back to make sure that legal aid is working is a part of that.”