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Lawyers who give get much in return: many lawyers find satisfaction doing pro bono work. But others find that volunteer work unrelated to the law is where they truly renew their spirits - and that the rewards repay their efforts tenfold.

Article Excerpt
Thomas Harding is a man on a mission. As an ambassador for his cause--to get every lawyer he can involved in charity work--Harding is indefatigable. As he talks about the joys and rewards of giving, his zeal and euphoria would make a Baptist preacher proud (no small trick for an atheist).

"I had a rough childhood," Harding said, describing a life of grim poverty growing up in British Columbia, Canada. "I've taken charity. I've seen the good it can do."

Harding, who practices personal injury law in Surrey, British Columbia, has made a lifelong commitment to charity; at the age of 13 he was using odd-job money to "adopt" a local family for Christmas. He continued with the same program as an adult, eventually adopting two families after he became a lawyer.

"And then it occurred to me: This is great, it's fine, but in the end, it's just one family, one time a year," he said. "What about providing more basic support for a larger number of people, throughout the year?"

Harding searched for charities that provided that type of support and found three that he now devotes time and money to: an advocacy group for battered women, a food bank, and the local fire department. The latter choice is rooted in a childhood memory, too. When he was four years old, Harding's home caught fire. Firefighters rescued everyone in the house except his six-year-old sister, who died.

"It was 1964," he said, "so firefighters didn't use oxygen then. Those firefighters went into that flaming house four times, to try to rescue her. Four times, without oxygen. Since then, I have a real soft spot for the fire department."

Harding regularly holds fund-raising speeches for his chosen charities and said he takes every opportunity to press the joys of giving. Every step, however small, fixes something that is wrong with the world.

"You can't do everything, and maybe it doesn't seem like much," he said. "So break it down: What do you want to do, right now? OK, you can't rebuild New Orleans, but maybe you can buy a box of nails that goes into building one house. I can't point to a rainforest I saved recently, but I know every time I recycle, at least I'm not adding to the problem. There is a lot in the world that needs fixing. What are you going to do?"

Harding, for all his idealism, is hardheaded about what charities need. He said that over his many...

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