18 - Institutionalizing Pro Bono

Summary

U.S. law firms expend considerable resources supporting the pro bono activities of their lawyers. This chapter by Estreicher and Nash explores the reasons for law firm pro bono practices and suggests that more attention be paid to the training opportunities for junior lawyers that can be provided by a pro bono program that emphasizes assistance to individuals and groups on “retail” matters where legal assistance of any kind is typically unavailable. A questionnaire is offered to help law firms assess what they do in their pro bono programs.

Why do large law firms engage in pro bono matters? One answer is that legal services on pro bono matters provide a benefit to society. Often pro bono projects involve provision of critical services to individuals and groups who may otherwise lack access to competent legal representation. Where this is the case, lawyers are making an important societal contribution, and fulfilling an ethical obligation of their profession.

Pro bono matters also provide an opportunity for young lawyers to deal with clients and issues they would be unlikely to encounter, and hence to develop skills not ordinarily called upon in the course of at least their junior years of billable work. Such engagements thus offer an attractive training opportunity for young lawyers that, from the firm's standpoint, poses no risk to its paying clients. Law firms also use the prospect of pro bono work as a means to recruit and retain young associates. Pro bono matters also may improve the public image of law firms that underwrite them. From the firm's vantage, the benefits to society in helping to address social needs are important but may be secondary to the instrumental benefits.

If there is a positive relationship between commitment to pro bono activities and measures of firm performance, such a finding may encourage firms to expand their underwriting of pro bono work by their associates. On the other hand, if a positive relationship is lacking or has become attenuated over time, firms may reassess their commitment to pro bono activities or implement controls to better further instrumental objectives.