Legal Current

This week marks the first “National Pro Bono Celebration” in the United States. It’s a new project of the American Bar Association, sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service:

…the celebration is a coordinated national effort to showcase the great difference that pro bono lawyers make to the nation, its system of justice, its communities and, most of all, to the clients they serve. The week is also dedicated to the quest for more pro bono volunteers to meet the ever-growing legal needs of this country’s most vulnerable citizens.

In a message posted on its Web site, the ABA says the national celebration comes at a critical time:

The confluence of two circumstances make this timing ideal: the increasing need for pro bono services as economic conditions worsen, and the unprecedented response of attorneys to meeting this need.

The ABA says local bar associations across the country will have the opportunity to note the pro bono contributions of America’s lawyers and recruit additional volunteers. On its Web site, it says 73 percent of American lawyers report doing pro bono work for people of limited means, with some donating an average of more than 40 hours each year in free legal services. Still, the ABA says more than 80 percent of the legal needs of America’s poor remain unmet.

Thomson Reuters, Legal, supports the spirit and purpose of pro bono work. Earlier this year, West launched Do Justice, a global pro bono initiative to build upon the $12 million in Westlaw legal research we donated for pro bono counsel in 2008. Learn how your law firm can participate here and read a message about our commitment to pro bono from Peter Warwick, president and CEO, Thomson Reuters, Legal.

For more perspective on pro bono work, we offer video interviews we did with Arthur Miller, professor at New York University Law School; Bob Berring, professor at Berkeley Law; and Linda Will, law librarian consultant.

Miller’s video clip includes his statement, “…the pro bono climate is as favorable as I’ve ever seen it in my life”:

In his video interview with us, Berring said “Pro bono work offers fantastic experience and real human contact”:

And in her clip, Will offers that “Pro bono is extremely important in these days”:

The ABA also has videos highlighting pro bono work on its Web site for “National Pro Bono Celebration.”

Posted by Kevin Hunt in: In Practice | Practice trends | Share