ABA Says More Lawyers Doing Pro Bono

Posted on February 13, 2009 by technola

The ABA Journal reports that the number of lawyers doing pro bono and the number of pro bono hours per lawyer have increased according to a study by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, which was released at the ABA Midyear Meeting today. According to the study:


  • 73% of lawyers surveyed provided pro bono representation to low-income individuals or organizations representing them (up from 66% in a 2005);

  • Lawyers provided, on average, 41 hours of pro bono work in 2008 (up from 39 hours in 2005); and

  • 81% of lawyers in private practice, 43% of corporate counsel and 30% of government lawyers did pro bono work in 2008.


The full article is available here. For attorneys looking for pro bono opportunities, check out the National Pro Bono Opportunities Guide, an online directory developed by the ABA Center for Pro Bono and Pro Bono Net.  -M

Tags:
Trackbacks (0) Links to blogs that reference this article Trackback URL
http://www.techno.la/admin/trackback/117988
Comments (2) Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end
Eric Cooperstein - February 19, 2009 9:55 AM

I am troubled by the design of the key question underlying this report: did you do any free work for clients in the past year? To me, this obviously allows lawyers to answer “yes” when the alleged “pro bono” work resulted from clients who would not or could not pay the lawyer’s bill. That’s a pretty broad definition of pro bono and does not necessarily suggest that 73% of lawyers are taking affirmative steps to address the unmet need for legal services.

technola - February 19, 2009 10:21 AM

For those who haven't seen it, the full report is available here. The ABA has also issued a press release here.

Post A Comment / Question Use this form to add a comment to this entry.







Remember personal info?
Send To A Friend Use this form to send this entry to a friend via email.