Legal Research

"All Good Things..."

Posted by Jordan Furlong: "Eighty percent of the poor in the United States are unable to afford a lawyer or find pro bono help for their civil legal problems, according to the American Bar Association." That sentence, from an American Lawyer article last month, is not only embarrassing. It's also an omen.

The article in question, titled "Unmet Needs," was part of a special series on pro bono in the United States, including AmLaw's list of the top 100 pro bono-friendly law firms and a powerful critique of big-firm pro bono by Deborah Rhode. The latter piece highlighted how pro bono at many firms is less an exercise in professional and public responsibility than it is an opportunity to enhance associate recruitment and retention and score some easy PR points. The result, Rhode points out, is that the clients most in need -- the "sob stories" and "difficult clients" referenced in the article -- are the least likely to get pro bono help from these firms.

It reminded me of a conversation I had last year with two senior local practitioners. Both lawyers were partners in national firms; both were also extensively involved in volunteer and community activities. They were lamenting the pro bono culture that had taken hold in law firms, especially among newer lawyers. Young associates were constantly clamouring to do pro bono work for one socially aware organization or another. "What I'd like to see," one lawyer said, "is a lot more of them go down to family court and help out some of the unrepresented litigants there. That's where we need pro bono help right now."

Pro bono assistance of that kind is just the sort of "unmet need" that the American Lawyer article was talking about. The writers spoke with legal aid and pro bono lawyers across the US and identified five "needs baskets" where the demand for pro bono work is great and the supply from big firms is limited:

• Representing military personnel
• Helping the unemployed
• Easing the load in family court
• The cracking pro bono infrastructure
• Serving the rural poor...

 Full text and active links are available at the source site listed below.

Source: Law 21, 4 August 2009

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on August 04, 2009 (boomark / email).