{"id":13053,"date":"2020-11-10T10:36:21","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T15:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/?p=13053"},"modified":"2020-11-10T10:39:20","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T15:39:20","slug":"13053","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/2020\/11\/10\/13053\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Pro Bono Work Be Mandatory for Lawyers?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"Photo courtesy of Colorado Women\u2019s Bar Association
\n<\/em>https:\/\/www.cwba.org<\/em><\/a><\/h6>\n

Should Pro Bono Work Be Mandatory for Lawyers?
\nBy Samantha Dorn<\/p>\n

Rule 6.1 of the American Bar Association\u2019s (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct says that \u201c[e]very lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay.\u00a0 A lawyer should aspire to render at least 50 hours of pro bono public legal services per year.\u201d[1]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 To fulfill this duty, attorneys can provide legal services directly to those who are indigent and otherwise could not afford an attorney, or through organizations that assist this population.[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No state currently requires pro bono work as a requirement to keep an active law license, but several states do require attorneys to report any pro bono hours they may complete.[3]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 In 1993, Florida became the first state to requiring lawyers to report their pro bono hours completed to the state bar with their membership dues.[4]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Today, eight other states, including Maryland and New York, now have this requirement.[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 In addition, 13 states have voluntary pro bono reporting systems.[6]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 As of this date, New York is the only state that requires law students to perform at least 50 hours of pro bono service as a condition for receiving a law license.[7]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 California, Connecticut, and New Jersey attempted to implement their own pro bono policies for law students, but these have not been acted on in some time.[8]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Montana has implemented a policy permitting law students to voluntarily submit pro bono activity to the State Bar with their application.[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some may suggest that lawyers should be required to perform pro bono work for those who cannot afford legal services, as it is likely that not everyone who needs legal representation can afford it, and there can be a high demand for important legal services. Although there are organizations such as the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which provide legal services to those in need, the organization itself has reported that 50 percent of those who request help are turned away because the programs lack the necessary funds to represent all of prospective clients.[10]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Some have argued that there is a constitutional foundation for mandatory pro bono work.\u00a0 The Sixth Amendment provides for the right to counsel in criminal cases because a person is at risk of losing their liberty\u2014or possibly, their life.[11]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Proponents argue that the outcomes of civil cases can have \u201cvast financial and personal effects on the people involved;\u201d thus, these clients are also fundamentally entitled to counsel.[12]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Others have strongly opposed the idea of mandatory pro bono.\u00a0 In his article, Verdict<\/em>, Ronald D. Rotunda expressed that \u201cmandatory pro bono, like mandatory charitable giving, is an oxymoron.\u201d[13]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Lawyers could be \u201cmore reluctant\u201d to represent these clients as zealously because they feel they are being forced to represent them, not because they are voluntarily doing so as a \u201cgood deed\u201d.[14]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Opponents may also have a constitutional argument; mandatory pro bono may violate the First Amendment\u2019s right to freedom of association.[15]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Still, the good news is that many lawyers do give their time to help their community by providing pro bono services. In a study of over 47,000 lawyers conducted by the American Bar Association, 81 percent responded that they have provided pro bono services at some point in their lives.[16]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 They provide an average of 36.9 hours of pro bono services per lawyer.[17]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0The top reasons for providing pro bono work were: (1) helping people in need, (2) ethical obligations, and (3) duty as a member of the legal profession.[18]<\/a>\u00a0 The main reasons attorneys felt discouraged from doing pro bono work were: (1) lack of time, (2) family commitments or other personal obligations, and (3) lack of skills or experience.[19]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Regardless of whether pro bono work should remain voluntary or become mandatory, it\u2019s important to recognize the lawyers that give their time and resources to help those who in need of their services.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>https:\/\/www.americanbar.org\/groups\/professional_responsibility\/publications\/model_rules_of_professional_conduct\/rule_6_1_voluntary_pro_bono_publico_service\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> See generally<\/em> https:\/\/www.americanbar.org\/groups\/probono_public_service\/policy\/arguments\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Id. <\/em><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> https:\/\/www.americanbar.org\/groups\/probono_public_service\/policy\/bar_pre_admission_pro_bono\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Tricia DeFilipps, Article, Attorneys\u2019 Ethical Responsibility to Provide Pro Bono Legal Services to Those in Need<\/em>, 33 Buff. Pub. Int. L.J 1, 8 (2015).<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/constitution\/sixth_amendment<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> DeFilipps, 33 Buff. Pub. Int. L.J at 11.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> https:\/\/verdict.justia.com\/2016\/07\/18\/forcing-lawyers-perform-pro-bono-services<\/a><\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> DeFilipps, 33 Buff. Pub. Int. L.J at 18.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Id.<\/em> at 20.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a>https:\/\/www.americanbar.org\/content\/dam\/aba\/administrative\/probono_public_service\/ls_pb_supporting_justice_iv_final.authcheckdam.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of Colorado Women\u2019s Bar Association https:\/\/www.cwba.org Should Pro Bono Work Be Mandatory for Lawyers? By Samantha Dorn Rule 6.1 of the American Bar Association\u2019s (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct says that \u201c[e]very lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay.\u00a0 A [\u2026] <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[1628,1627,455,3225,3224,3226,3084,3227,3223,3222],"class_list":["post-13053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-juris-blog","category-posts","tag-aba","tag-american-bar-association","tag-lawyers","tag-legal-services","tag-legal-work","tag-model-rules-of-professional-conduct","tag-pro-bono","tag-pro-bono-hours","tag-volunteer","tag-volunteering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13053"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13059,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13053\/revisions\/13059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}