Jeff Xu, an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP, has provided pro bono services to VOLS clients through the VOLS Elderly Project. For National Pro Bono Week, we invited Jeff to share how his upbringing and values reflect his decision to assist senior clients with their life planning documents (wills, powers of attorney, etc.).
Why were you initially interested in this type of work with helping seniors obtain their life planning documents?
Growing up in a Chinese family where there’s a lot of importance placed on caring for your older family members and older members of the community has shaped my view of the elderly community. When I saw this opportunity being offered at MoFo, it stuck out as something that spoke to me more than the other opportunities we have.
As I started to get my feet wet with working with clients on their life planning matters, I knew that it was something for me. Having the level of personal interaction on matters that are sensitive and often taboo, such as estate planning, it gave me a purpose that I don’t necessarily get from my everyday finance practice. So, I’d say it’s the combination of the opportunity for individual interaction, my values and views toward the elderly community, and my desire to help strengthen those communities.
Next, I want to hear a bit more about your experience with volunteering for VOLS. What’s it like working with our clients?
A lot of the clients that I’ve worked with for one reason or another, perhaps it’s a language barrier or a technological barrier, have issues with accessing their documents or other matters. However, I like to see that our clients have a support network (family or otherwise) that help them through this process. Having been raised in a culture that places importance on taking care of your family and the community, it’s great to see that kind of personal care and human touch. In my view, that is the backbone of a strong family in the community and it resonates with how I have grown up and was raised to view community and family.
Do you have any examples of seeing these connections within the families you have worked with?
In the most recent case that I worked on – a remote execution ceremony for a Spanish speaking client – the client’s grandson was crucial to our success. As you know, the execution of those planning documents requires following all of the necessary formalities and checking all the boxes to make sure that the final product is something that will pass in the Surrogate’s Court if the will is ever challenged. Although we had a translator working with us on this matter, our translator wasn’t able to be there on a day to day basis to explain everything like the technology needed, etc. I had a chance to work directly with the client’s grandson, who in the lead up to the execution date, had to get everything set up including printing and organizing access to a scanner on the day of the ceremony. Then on the day of the execution, he had to take off work and spent a couple of hours in his grandmother’s apartment making sure that the process went smoothly. It warmed my heart to see the client’s grandson take such care of his family and he was the one who made it possible to complete a remote execution.
It warmed my heart to see the client’s grandson take such care of his family and he was the one who made it possible to complete a remote execution.
How would you say your experience as an attorney has been enriched by the time you spent volunteering?
As with many corporate law associates, this type of work couldn’t be more different from what I do day-to-day, which is in the finance and banking world. In the way I approach both my practice and life generally, a variety of experiences, a variety of clients and a variety of matters helps you become a more well-rounded attorney and person.
This experience with VOLS is an opportunity to work directly, face-to-face with an individual client, often in the low-income elderly and minority community in New York. It’s allowed me to become a more well-rounded individual by seeing different perspectives and understanding what other people are going through outside of my bubble.
The cherry on top, and this may be a little cliché, but working with individuals and not an institution on a sensitive issue such as estate planning makes me feel like a true lawyer. For example, sitting down with our clients at the execution ceremony and walking them through all of the formalities makes me feel alive in a different way than in the corporate world.
Volunteering has allowed me to become a more well-rounded individual by seeing different perspectives and understanding what other people are going through outside of my bubble.
In light of COVID-19, why do you think this type of work is especially important today?
What I’ve come to realize is that the community that VOLS serves is already one of the most vulnerable communities in society. As we’ve seen, these communities are the ones hit the hardest by the pandemic, whether physically, financially or otherwise, which truly magnifies their vulnerability. Providing these communities legal assistance, especially in estate planning, which involves awkward and sensitive issues such as family inheritance and succession is so important during a health crisis. It gives clients access to a service that they are otherwise likely to forego and is the type of work that we should strive to continue to do.
Click here to read more volunteer profiles for National Pro Bono Week.