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As 2022 draws to a close, Volunteer Lawyers Birmingham (VLB) remembers Marc Cavadel, a lawyer and tireless advocate for low-income clients who passed this year in July.
Cavadel began volunteering with VLB in 2021 after retiring from Protective Life. He had a special affinity for taking on extended-representation cases, where he found the satisfaction of a hard-won outcome worth the extra effort and time.
"Those kinds of cases take a lot more than just an hour on a phone call," Cavadel said in an interview for the Birmingham Bar Association Bulletin. "But I like to work to get people economic and social justice they really need when they can't turn to anybody else."
VLB Executive Director Graham Hewitt says Cavadel stood out for his passion for pro bono service. "Marc called us shortly after he retired wanting to continue doing pro bono work. He seemed to revel in the more complex or challenging cases. Marc helped a lot of clients in a short amount of time."
Cavadel once spent months on a case involving a contractor who felt she had been shortchanged by a client. "It was clear to me she had merit in her claim," he said. "The man she worked for had an attorney. She was overpowered and needed someone to stand toe-to-toe with this more powerful entity. Those are the kinds of situations that really shouldn't exist, when people are in the right but are still at some kind of disadvantage. That's what I got out of it."
Cavadel was a graduate of the University of Alabama and Birmingham School of Law. He is survived by his wife, Tracey, and stepson, Vaiden Jones, along with his brothers, nieces and nephews, and several great-nieces and nephews. Prior to his passing Cavadel requested any donations in his memory go to his favorite public radio station, WBHM 90.3 FM.
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