WUNRN
Women's eNews' Pro Bono Feminae survey finds that women worldwide receive substantial free assistance from attorneys. The survey is released ahead of American Lawyer's pro bono edition that ranks major U.S. law firms for their public service.
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=3198
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Pro
Bono - Voluntary Legal Services
Potential Support
for Legal Issues of Women & Girls
Pro bono publico (usually shortened to pro bono) is a phrase derived from Latin meaning "for the public good." The term is sometimes used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms. Pro bono service, unlike traditional volunteerism, uses the specific skills of professionals to provide services to those who are unable to afford them.
Pro bono legal counsel may assist an individual or group on a legal case, in filing government applications or petitions, or on appeal. A judge may occasionally determine that the loser should compensate a winning pro bono counsel.
"Pro bono publico" is sometimes used in the United Kingdom to
describe the central motivation of large organizations such as the BBC, the National Health Service, and
various NGOs which exist "for the public
good" (rather than for shareholder profit) and legal or professional work.[1]
Lawyers in the United States are recommended under American Bar Association (ABA) ethical rules to contribute at least fifty hours of pro bono service per year.[2] Some state bar associations, however, may recommend fewer hours. The New York State Bar Association, for example, recommends just twenty hours of pro bono service annually,[3] while the New York City Bar promulgates the same recommendation as the ABA.[4]
In an October 2007 press conference reported in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, the law student group Building a Better Legal Profession released its first annual ranking of top law firms by average billable hours, pro bono participation, and demographic diversity.[5][6] The report found that most large firms fall short of their pro bono targets.[7] The group has sent the information to top law schools around the country, encouraging students to take this data into account when choosing where to work after graduation.[8] As more students choose where to work based on the firms' rankings, firms face an increasing market pressure to increase their commitment to pro bono work in order to attract top recruits.[9]
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http://www.womensenews.org:80/article.cfm?aid=3650
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Pro Bono Feminae Law Firms Donate Legal Aid |
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06/27/08 |
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By
Cynthia L. Cooper |
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In July, American Lawyer rates major firms for the free legal aid they offer. For the second year, Women's eNews surveyed last year's five top firms to see what they did in the way of "pro bono feminae." |
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(WOMENSENEWS)--When Erin Smith, an attorney at the Washington law firm of Covington and Burling first drove to visit a client in the sprawling South Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, Calif., she entered a world far apart from San Francisco's financial district where her firm has offices. Smith and two colleagues were escorted through barbed wire passages and
fenced boxes to a small windowless room with four chairs and a table. Here,
they met W.B., a 46-year-old survivor of domestic abuse who had been
incarcerated for half her life on a murder charge. For reasons of privacy,
the firm did not release the client's full name.
In W.B.'s case, the lawyers worked for free with the San Francisco-based California Habeas Project to invoke a state law that allows a case review for some survivors of domestic violence. Covington lawyers put in 1,200 hours on their client's case in 2007, equivalent to seven or eight months of an associate's billable time at many large firms, and are preparing to file a petition for release. They also arranged for a private detective to search for original witnesses and experts to testify about trauma, all on the firm's tab. Although there is no exact assessment of the amount of pro bono work that aids women, the value of pro bono work cannot be underestimated, said Mark Schickman, a San Francisco lawyer who is chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service. "Pro bono" literally means "for the public good." "To the extent one is trying to serve the needs of America's poor, this, unfortunately, affects women more," said Schickman. The Chicago-based American Bar Association asks lawyers to spend 50 hours each year on pro bono work for the needy, and the national average, said Schickman, is 39 hours a year. That commitment was doubled and even tripled by the top five firms named on the pro bono ranking released in July 2007 by the American Lawyer, a trade publication, which will be releasing its new rankings in early July. Firms use the highly competitive rankings to promote business and recruit new lawyers. Covington Topped
the List
At Covington, the highest-ranked firm for pro bono service in 2007, lawyers delivered more than three times the ABA commitment, averaging 156.6 hours of service per lawyer with 73.7 percent of lawyers delivering more than 20 hours each year. Covington's 650 lawyers are in five offices worldwide. Rounding out the top five pro bono rankings were Patterson Belknap Webb and Tyler (second with 119.3 average hours; 91.8 percent over 20 hours); Jenner and Block (third with 127.5 average hours, 82.4 percent over 20); Debevoise and Plimpton (fourth with 140.8 average hours; 66.3 percent over 20); and Arnold and Porter (fifth with 130 average hours, 73.1 over 20). Each firm continues to pay lawyers their full compensation for time spent on pro-bono projects. Women's eNews' survey of these top five pro bono programs found that they took on difficult cases for female clients that involved issues such as female genital mutilation, transgender identity, parental rights and protection from domestic violence. At Covington and Burling, which has ranked No. 1 on the pro bono list for six of the past 11 years, two lawyers work full-time coordinating pro bono projects. Pro bono counsel Anne Proctor ran through a list of cases helping women: a case on equity in government contracting filed on behalf of the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce; asylum for a teacher jailed in Cameroon for mistakenly telling her students the president had died; and challenging a conviction of a domestic violence victim in New York. The firm also places lawyers at legal aid centers where women are many of the clients. Patterson Belknap
Patterson Belknap, second on the pro bono list, is a New York-based firm with approximately 200 attorneys. In 2006, it devoted 20,000 attorney hours to pro bono work--legal services that would be valued at more than $10 million if charged to private clients. The firm coordinates with several nonprofit organizations in New York City, including InMotion, formerly called the Network for Women's Services, an organization that helps domestic abuse survivors with legal orders and low-income women in matrimonial, family and immigration law, according to Lisa E. Cleary, a partner in litigation who heads the firm's pro bono committee. In 2007, the case of Ms. A, a transgender woman from Malaysia who came to the United States 18 years ago, was referred by a bar association to Patterson Belknap lawyers. For safety and privacy reasons, her name was withheld. She searched for eight years for a lawyer to handle her asylum application before the Patterson Belknap team, guided by David Glaser and Amin Kassam, agreed to help. Her application faced particular difficulty because asylum requests normally must be filed within a year of arrival in the United States. Patterson lawyers argued that Ms. A should be granted a "changed circumstances" exception because of her hormone therapy and physiological adjustments. The lawyers tracked down the leading expert on gender and sexuality in Malaysia, a professor in Atlanta, to support the application. Ms. A received a grant of asylum. Jenner and Block
No. 3 firm Jenner and Block, headquartered in Chicago, sends out messages describing pro bono projects three times a day to its 500 lawyers. E. Lynn Grayson, a partner who specializes in environmental law, readily grabs projects that help women. "There's a tremendous amount of gratification for attorneys in doing pro bono," said Grayson, who in 2006 helped incorporate the Working Women's History Project in Chicago, which brings recognition to women in all areas of labor. Grayson and other firm lawyers also have an ongoing relationship with WINGS (Women in Need Growing Stronger), an emergency shelter and transitional services program in Chicago for women and children who are escaping violence and homelessness. The legal work ranges from taxation to human resources: "Everything that a company deals with, they deal with," said Grayson. Each year female lawyers at Jenner head to the shelters in jeans and T-shirts to help planting, painting and spring cleaning. While not part of the calculation of pro bono hours, the lawyers participate as a community service. Debevoise and
Plimpton
In New York, No. 4 firm Debevoise and Plimpton routinely accepts cases from Sanctuary for Families, a program that aids domestic abuse survivors. After taking the case of a Bronx woman they identified as Yolanda R., Derek S. Tarson and other lawyers realized she had an additional pressing concern. She wanted to raise her three children in a healthier environment in Georgia, nearer to her family. But a New York family court judge ordered her to move back to New York, where the father lived. "There is a presumption that unless it's going to further the best interests of the child, they should stay put," said Tarson. The cost and difficulty of appealing was out of the reach for the client, who lived on Social Security disability. Debevoise decided to make an appeal. Up to four lawyers worked on the case, amassing 1,412 hours of attorney time and 297 hours of additional staff time. The appellate court granted the right to a new hearing and they retried the case in family court with additional evidence. In September 2007, the court ruled that Yolanda R. could move to Georgia with her children. "The absolute joy in her voice was just incredible," said Tarson. Debevoise has 700 lawyers in its five overseas and two U.S. offices. The firm also worked with the constitutional litigation clinic at Rutgers Law School to secure a jury verdict in federal court for a woman who was abused in an immigration detention facility in New Jersey. Arnold and Porter
The Washington, D.C., firm Arnold and Porter, No. 5 on the list, partnered with Tahirih Justice Center in 2007 to assist immigrant women who are abused, trafficked or endangered in a variety of legal actions. In one case, six Arnold and Porter lawyers spent hundreds of hours developing an amicus brief in the appeal of a Guinean woman, identified only as M.B.B. She had been subjected to female genital mutilation but had been denied asylum on that basis. The brief to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals argued that the woman suffered permanent and continuing harm from the practice and was fearful that her minor daughter would be subjected to the same practice if she were forced to return. "It's part of a larger human rights campaign to show that FGM is a continuous act of persecution. That's a concept that was recently called into doubt. It's important for the law to set the record straight," said Annie Khalid-Hussain, an attorney at Arnold and Porter. The FGM case is of special concern because it could end up in the U.S. Supreme Court, said Rena E. Cutlip-Mason, director of Legal Services at Tahirih, based in Falls Church, Va. "We have clients here, if it is upheld, who could equally have no relief. We wouldn't be able to do a Second Circuit brief with the manpower we have on staff," said Cutlip-Mason. |
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http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/probono/rule61.html
Every lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay. A lawyer should aspire to render at least (50) hours of pro bono publico legal services per year. In fulfilling this responsibility, the lawyer should:
(a) provide a substantial majority of the (50) hours of legal services without fee or expectation of fee to:
(1) persons of limited means or
(2) charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental and educational organizations in matters which are designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited means; and
(b) provide any additional services through:
(1) delivery of legal services at no fee or substantially reduced fee to individuals, groups or organizations seeking to secure or protect civil rights, civil liberties or public rights, or charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental and educational organizations in matters in furtherance of their organizational purposes, where the payment of standard legal fees would significantly deplete the organization's economic resources or would be otherwise inappropriate;
(2) delivery of legal services at a substantially reduced fee to persons of limited means; or
(3) participation in activities for improving the law, the legal system or the legal profession.
In addition, a lawyer should voluntarily contribute financial support to organizations that provide legal services to persons of limited means.
Comment
[1] Every lawyer, regardless of professional prominence or professional workload, has a responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay, and personal involvement in the problems of the disadvantaged can be one of the most rewarding experiences in the life of a lawyer. The American Bar Association urges all lawyers to provide a minimum of 50 hours of pro bono services annually. States, however, may decide to choose a higher or lower number of hours of annual service (which may be expressed as a percentage of a lawyer's professional time) depending upon local needs and local conditions. It is recognized that in some years a lawyer may render greater or fewer hours than the annual standard specified, but during the course of his or her legal career, each lawyer should render on average per year, the number of hours set forth in this Rule. Services can be performed in civil matters or in criminal or quasi-criminal matters for which there is no government obligation to provide funds for legal representation, such as post-conviction death penalty appeal cases.
[2] Paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) recognize the critical need for legal services that exists among persons of limited means by providing that a substantial majority of the legal services rendered annually to the disadvantaged be furnished without fee or expectation of fee. Legal services under these paragraphs consist of a full range of activities, including individual and class representation, the provision of legal advice, legislative lobbying, administrative rule making and the provision of free training or mentoring to those who represent persons of limited means. The variety of these activities should facilitate participation by government lawyers, even when restrictions exist on their engaging in the outside practice of law.
[3] Persons eligible for legal services under paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) are those who qualify for participation in programs funded by the Legal Services Corporation and those whose incomes and financial resources are slightly above the guidelines utilized by such programs but nevertheless, cannot afford counsel. Legal services can be rendered to individuals or to organizations such as homeless shelters, battered women's centers and food pantries that serve those of limited means. The term "governmental organizations" includes, but is not limited to, public protection programs and sections of governmental or public sector agencies.
[4] Because service must be provided without fee or expectation of fee, the intent of the lawyer to render free legal services is essential for the work performed to fall within the meaning of paragraphs (a)(1) and (2). Accordingly, services rendered cannot be considered pro bono if an anticipated fee is uncollected, but the award of statutory lawyers' fees in a case originally accepted as pro bono would not disqualify such services from inclusion under this section. Lawyers who do receive fees in such cases are encouraged to contribute an appropriate portion of such fees to organizations or projects that benefit persons of limited means.
[5] While it is possible for a lawyer to fulfill the annual responsibility to perform pro bono services exclusively through activities described in paragraphs (a)(1) and (2), to the extent that any hours of service remained unfulfilled, the remaining commitment can be met in a variety of ways as set forth in paragraph (b). Constitutional, statutory or regulatory restrictions may prohibit or impede government and public sector lawyers and judges from performing the pro bono services outlined in paragraphs (a)(1) and (2). Accordingly, where those restrictions apply, government and public sector lawyers and judges may fulfill their pro bono responsibility by performing services outlined in paragraph (b).
[6] Paragraph (b)(1) includes the provision of certain types of legal services to those whose incomes and financial resources place them above limited means. It also permits the pro bono lawyer to accept a substantially reduced fee for services. Examples of the types of issues that may be addressed under this paragraph include First Amendment claims, Title VII claims and environmental protection claims. Additionally, a wide range of organizations may be represented, including social service, medical research, cultural and religious groups.
[7] Paragraph (b)(2) covers instances in which lawyers agree to and receive a modest fee for furnishing legal services to persons of limited means. Participation in judicare programs and acceptance of court appointments in which the fee is substantially below a lawyer's usual rate are encouraged under this section.
[8] Paragraph (b)(3) recognizes the value of lawyers engaging in activities that improve the law, the legal system or the legal profession. Serving on bar association committees, serving on boards of pro bono or legal services programs, taking part in Law Day activities, acting as a continuing legal education instructor, a mediator or an arbitrator and engaging in legislative lobbying to improve the law, the legal system or the profession are a few examples of the many activities that fall within this paragraph.
[9] Because the provision of pro bono services is a professional responsibility, it is the individual ethical commitment of each lawyer. Nevertheless, there may be times when it is not feasible for a lawyer to engage in pro bono services. At such times a lawyer may discharge the pro bono responsibility by providing financial support to organizations providing free legal services to persons of limited means. Such financial support should be reasonably equivalent to the value of the hours of service that would have otherwise been provided. In addition, at times it may be more feasible to satisfy the pro bono responsibility collectively, as by a firm's aggregate pro bono activities.
[10] Because the efforts of individual lawyers are not enough to meet the need for free legal services that exists among persons of limited means, the government and the profession have instituted additional programs to provide those services. Every lawyer should financially support such programs, in addition to either providing direct pro bono services or making financial contributions when pro bono service is not feasible.
[11] Law firms should act reasonably to enable and encourage all lawyers in the firm to provide pro bono legal services called for by this Rule.
[12] The responsibility set forth in this Rule is not intended to be enforced through disciplinary process.
Model Code Comparison
There was no counterpart of this Rule in the Disciplinary Rules of the Model Code. EC 2-25 stated that the "basic responsibility for providing legal services for those unable to pay ultimately rests upon the individual lawyer . . .. Every lawyer, regardless of professional prominence or professional work load, should find time to participate in serving the disadvantaged." EC 8-9 stated that "[t] he advancement of our legal system is of vital importance in maintaining the rule of law . . . [and] lawyers should encourage, and should aid in making, needed changes and improvements." EC 8-3 stated that "[t] hose persons unable to pay for legal services should be provided needed services."
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