One night Paul Freese, the director of litigation and public advocacy for public interest law firm Public Counsel, stopped by Von’s to grab some food on his way home from work. There was a young homeless man sitting in front of the store, quietly munching on a crust of bread. Blue lights flashed in the parking lot and, when Freese turned to see what was going on, police officers were approaching the young man.

They shone lights in his face. Their weapons were ready. They said the young man was loitering illegally.

“I told them I was an attorney, and I didn’t see any signs posted against loitering so it wasn’t illegal,” Freese said. “I wouldn’t interfere with the police, but I figured I would be a witness to what was happening.”After Freese asked some more questions, the officers said that someone had made a call to complain about the young man’s presence, and that all they really wanted was for him to move along. Freese believed the man’s rights were being violated, and was willing to help defend him. But the only way he could do so was if the man first allowed the police to arrest him. Instead, the man opted to simply comply and leave the store’s premises.

Later, he told Freese that he experienced similar run-ins with the police about three times every day.

“Homeless people living on the streets attract the police,” Freese said. “When you talk to any homeless person they have many tickets, both for legitimate laws and for laws that target them.”

Public Counsel is the largest provider of pro bono legal services in the country, with 80 people on staff and more than 3,600 volunteers. Public Counsel works to reduce the number of homeless people in the community by focusing on the needs of those who are at risk of becoming chronically homeless. They provide pro bono legal services to the homeless population, act as a resource to service providers, conduct legal clinics for homeless people and are a major participant in the Homeless Court Project, which rewards homeless and formerly-homeless individuals for connecting with residential and rehabilitation programs by resolving minor traffic and quality of life offenses.

When Freese started law school, he already knew that he wanted to put his skills to work by helping people in need. “Before law school I worked in the Phillipines with a group called Mary Knoll. I did investigative journalism, interviewing victims and families. Every day was an incredible adventure, and I met the most amazing people in the world,” he said. “That really stayed with me. When I went to law school it was very clear that I wanted to do public interest work.”

Public Counsel is “saving the life, heart and soul” of the legal profession, showing the public that lawyers—much-maligned in jokes and stories—can respond to a higher call, too. Every day, the students and volunteers working with the organization rediscover this aspect of their chosen professions. When a 24-year-old woman who hadn’t eaten in two days and needed urgent medical care came into the office looking for help, an advocate got her food stamps and connected her with emergency medical care that same day. Happy as the client was, it was the advocate who was truly beaming.

“I said to her, ‘Don’t ever forget how this made you feel,’” Freese said. “We’re keeping people in touch with what brought them to law school in the first place.”