Bruce Perrone
Advocacy Support Counsel , Legal Aid of West Virginia
Photo by Clayton Spangler .
I enjoy what I do , and I don ’ t think I would enjoy many other forms of law . There ’ s just something inside me that makes me tick this way .”
BY JEAN HARDIMAN . As a student at the Washington & Lee University School of Law , Bruce Perrone interviewed with corporate law firms in big cities , which was typical for students with good grades , but he didn ’ t have much to say to those folks . He found that his fire for the law kindled when he was helping the less fortunate .
Perrone earned an economics degree at Davidson College in North Carolina in 1975 , when the concept of operating legal clinics to meet the needs of working people was still developing . During law school , he volunteered with a student-run legal aid program that was supervised by a local lawyer . He was also elected as an officer in the student bar , which afforded membership in the university ’ s honor system , and he participated in the law review and the university ’ s Women ’ s Law Students Organization .
After graduation , Perrone began his career in 1978 as a staff attorney at Legal Aid of North Carolina .
“ It was absolutely everything I hoped legal aid could be ,” he says . “ I loved the clients , I loved the work , and I loved the advocates I was working with . We were all pretty new as lawyers and figuring it out as we went , but we made sure to have fun while we were doing it . In those days , we took just about any civil case that came in the door , and I learned to jump in and figure it out quick .”
It was the Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship that brought Perrone to the Mountain State to work as a staff attorney for the North Central West Virginia
Legal Aid Society in Morgantown . In 1981 , he moved into the director ’ s position , but he stayed there only four years before taking a job as the litigation director at the Legal Aid Society of Charleston so he could get back to lawyering . Federal cutbacks led to the consolidation of West Virginia ’ s three surviving legal aid programs , and by 2002 , Legal Aid of West Virginia ( LAWV ) had been established .
Today , Perrone serves as advocacy support counsel for LAWV , handling cases , coordinating support systems for litigation and advocacy across the state and posting resources to a website for fellow advocates . His responsibilities include cocounseling , assisting advocates through calls and emails , reviewing and editing written work and coordinating mock arguments for Legal Aid lawyers preparing for Supreme Court arguments .
Perrone has had administrative positions as well , and he has served on numerous committees and task forces related to everything from the implementation of the American Disabilities Act to landlord / tenant law to self-represented litigants . He also volunteered through the American Bar Association in
Perrone with the board of directors and staff of the Appalachian Center for Independent Living .
1999 to spend six weeks in Albania , consulting during the establishment of the country ’ s first legal aid program after the fall of its communist dictatorship in 1993 .
“ It was an absolutely fascinating experience on its own merits ,” he says . “ It also deeply enriched my own understanding of the role of legal aid , and the legal system generally , in strengthening the institutions of a vibrant democracy and respect for the rights of individuals .”
Ask him what he thinks his greatest success is , and he ’ ll say it ’ s hard to choose . He ’ s proud to have handled public benefit federal court class action cases , of working with legal aid programs in West Virginia and three other states to provide training opportunities for advocates and of his work in Albania , among other exciting endeavors . But it ’ s also rewarding to help an unemployed father feed his family or help a domestic violence victim get control of her life and show her daughter what empowerment looks like .
“ When I see a picture of a disabled child with an ear-to-ear grin because he got a wheelchair that gives him a measure of independence for the first time in his life , and that was because of Legal Aid , that makes me smile ,” says Perrone . “ How can you not enjoy that ?”
The choice of a career of service was a simple one for Perrone . “ Simply put , it gives me more satisfaction than anything else I can think of ,” he says . “ I enjoy what I do , and I don ’ t think I would enjoy many other forms of law . There ’ s just something inside me that makes me tick this way .” •
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE