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Lawyer has very busy retirement

April 3, 2005 1:07 am

Joe Gorrell once rubbed elbows with presidents and directed a multimillion-dollar budget for the federal government.

These days, he helps people who can't afford legal services--and doesn't earn a dime doing it.

In his former career, he debated policies on Capitol Hill and attended hearings covered by the national media.

Now he asks children whose lives are being torn apart to pretend he's their grandpa. He tries to figure out what's best for them and offers reports to judges during hearings that are closed to the public.

At one time, he was the "No. 4 buffalo," the fourth-highest ranked person in the entire Department of Interior.

These days, he's so low on the totem pole, he works out of a plastic storage bin.

No doubt, Joe Gorrell is in a different place--almost a different universe--at this phase of his life. The work he's doing during retirement is a far cry from the positions he held during 42 years as a civil servant.

That's the point.

When it was time for Gorrell to fold his tent, as he likes to say, and leave Washington, he was ready to try the one thing he hadn't done.

He wanted to be a country lawyer.

It wasn't a total pipe dream. Gorrell earned a degree from Catholic University Law School in 1968--between working full time for the U.S. Forest Service and being the father of three.

But he'd never spent a minute before a judge, arguing a case in the traditional sense.

"My only courtroom was Capitol Hill," he said.

He'd always wondered if he could be a lawyer for the people, like a character out of a John Grisham novel.

So the man who'd worked for the Bureau of Outdoor Reacreation as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs set out to find the answer.

At 72, Gorrell is a happy-faced man with snow-white hair and a ready smile. He and his second wife, Ann, enjoy the flower and bird gardens from their kitchen window, and they could sit for hours watching winged ones.

They live in the Wilderness area of Spotsylvania County, around the corner from National Park Service land.

Speaking of parks, Gorrell once directed every national park facility in five states. He loved working in Philadelphia and living in a townhouse built in 1763.

But Gorrell also savors the world outside his window. On the wall, along with images of his six grandchildren, is a framed photo he took this winter. It shows a bluebird house in the back yard, covered with snow and icicles, and two little bluebirds braving the storm.

Ann and Joe Gorrell enjoy life at this slower pace. They worked together at the Department of Interior, and she always admired the way he could "cut through the garbage and get right to the heart of the avocado," she said.

The skill served him well in Washington. So did staying cool under pressure and keeping a poker face, no matter what was going on around him.

He's using those same talents in his new role as "Joe Monday," the dependable volunteer who shows up every Monday morning in the Rappahannock Legal Services office.

Gorrell offered his help to the legal-aid office in Fredericksburg nine years ago. The agency handles civil cases for needy clients in the city and 16 counties.

Executive Director Bill Botts was impressed with the accomplished man before him when he met Gorrell in April 1996.

Botts also was baffled.

What in the world, he wondered, did an administrator who'd earned four degrees and numerous presidential awards know about people who don't have a penny to their name?

Gorrell seemed willing to learn, and Botts couldn't afford to turn down the offer of free help.

Botts started giving Gorrell cases about contested wills and power-of-attorney requests. He handed over employment issues, landlord-tenant disputes and guardianship cases.

Before long, others were putting things in Gorrell's pile--kept in a plastic storage bin because Gorrell doesn't have an office.

Sandra Karison, a former lawyer in the agency, remembers weekly staff meetings, when attorneys reviewed new cases and took as many as they could handle.

Often, they'd look down at their calendars with tired faces, she said, then up to each other.

"Our voices would end in chorus, 'Let's give this one to Joe,'" she said.

Botts and others soon realized they didn't have to worry about how Gorrell would relate to any case, client or circumstance.

"He makes people around him feel comfortable, whether they're clients or adversarial parties, because he's comfortable with people," Botts said. "He's comfortable in his own skin. He doesn't project an air of superiority."

Gorrell related especially well to children. It broke his heart to see little ones pulled from abusive homes or parents treating their children like pawns in a court battle.

He often thought about them later, at home, when he was picking up pine cones or cutting grass.

"I guess I'm fairly philosophical about it, you know, when they need help, it's my job to help them," he said. "But I'll be honest with you. It's extremely hard not to get emotional with some of these cases."

A fellow attorney suggested he become a guardian ad litem, a person appointed by the court to look out for children going through legal issues.

Guardians ad litem are paid a small amount for their work.

Gorrell thought it matched his interest, so he started taking those cases, too.

His volunteer duties practically tripled.

These days, he's in court or the legal-aid office, as a guardian ad litem or volunteer attorney, two or three days a week.

That's about as busy as he'd like to be.

"I don't want to work any harder than that," Gorrell said, smiling.

Botts wanted to honor the man who consistently donates more hours in the office than any other attorney. He nominated Gorrell for a prestigious award given by the Virginia State Bar.

Botts asked others to write letters of support, and praises started pouring in on paper.

Members of the committee that reviewed the nominations were impressed by Gorrell's dedication--and his regular commitment to the legal-aid office.

But they were really swayed by his standing in the legal community, said David Bobzien, president of the Virginia State Bar.

"Hearing about how local legislators, the judiciary and lawyers at state and local levels hold you in such high regard and how this esteem reflects so positively on legal aid carried additional weight," he wrote.

Gorrell will receive the Lewis Powell Pro Bono Award during a ceremony in May.

He's humbled by the honor--and his face is probably blood-red from all this attention. Almost every person who nominated him said he's not the kind of person who seeks the spotlight.

He "is very low key," said Fredericksburg Judge David Peterson.

But Gorrell has quietly inspired those around him, said Joseph Vance IV, a Fredericksburg lawyer. At a time when "the stereotypical attorney is seen as being self-centered and spoiled," Vance said Gorrell treats "all those with whom he has contact, with respect."

Now, that's a country lawyer for you.

For information about Rappahannock Legal Services, call 371-0128.

To reach CATHY DYSON: 540/374-5425 cdyson@freelancestar.com