The MSBA Pro Bono Challenge
By Brian Melendez
Some
years back, the American Bar Association challenged large law firms
to guarantee a minimum level of pro bono service from their attorneys—3
percent of their billable time—and instituted the Law Firm Pro Bono
Project in order to administer it:
The Project was created to
support and expand the pro bono publico activities of large law firms
[and] assists law firms in developing effective pro bono programs
and in integrating those programs into the practice, philosophy, and
culture of the firms.
The Project focuses on the
nation’s 850 largest law firms—those firms with 50 or more attorneys—because
of the unique role and resources of these firms. In order to realize
the potential for pro bono service by large firm lawyers, who comprise
approximately one-sixth of the nation’s practicing bar, it is essential
that their firms provide institutional support and strong encouragement.
The Project helps firms to develop the infrastructure that will promote
that support.
Several
Minnesota firms signed onto the Pro Bono Challenge, and a few even
hired paid administrators in order to coordinate their pro bono work.
I applaud and admire those firms and their example.
But
the ABA Pro Bono Challenge limited itself to large law firms and,
after a season in the spotlight, stopped generating as much recognition
as it once did. But the firms who participate deserve our recognition
today more than ever. Likewise, the firms who support their attorneys’
pro bono work, but do not qualify for the ABA Challenge on account
of their size, deserve the support and recognition that the larger
firms have enjoyed.
Six
years ago, the Hennepin County Bar Association stepped into the gap,
and announced the HCBA Pro Bono Challenge—open not only to large law
firms, but to any law firm. Next month, with the blessing of HCBA
President Sonia Miller-Van Oort, I will be asking that the MSBA Assembly
adopt the Pro Bono Challenge as a statewide project. For any firm
that takes the Challenge, the Association will offer ongoing support
from the bar staff, taking advantage of the experience of the larger
law firms, and report your success in an annual roster of firms that
have met or exceeded the Challenge goal.
Any
law firm, regardless of size, can participate, if the firm has an
office in Minnesota, and at least one lawyer practicing in the firm
is a member of the Association. A firm that takes the Challenge commits
to using its best efforts toward:
-
reaching a minimum level of pro bono service from its lawyers of
3 percent of their collective billable time;
- adopting
and maintaining a commonly understood firm-wide policy that unequivocally
supports pro bono work, and recognizes such work in evaluating, compensating,
and promoting the firm’s lawyers; and
-
encouraging broad-based firm-wide participation in pro bono work
that affords opportunities for such work to any interested lawyer,
and which includes most partners and most associates.1
When
your firm signs up, the bar staff will contact you in order to acknowledge
your participation and help you begin reaching the Challenge goal.
The leadership in that effort must come from within your firm, but
the bar staff will supply you with information about meeting the goal,
will suggest pro bono programs in which your firm’s lawyers can participate,
and can connect you with an experienced pro bono coordinator who will
work with your firm’s leadership in implementing the Challenge within
your firm.
Each
year, each participating firm will report its lawyers’ collective
billable time spent on pro bono work during the preceding year. Next
spring, and each spring thereafter, the Association will publish a
roster of the firms that have met or exceeded the Challenge goal,
including the percentage of each firm’s lawyers’ collective billable
time spent on pro bono work. Your firm may use its participation in
the Challenge in its recruiting and other promotional efforts.
A
lawyer’s work counts toward the Challenge if:
-
the work satisfies Minnesota Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1(a)—that
is, the work constitutes “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”;
-
the work satisfies Minnesota Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1(b)(2)—that
is, the work involves “delivery of legal services at a substantially
reduced fee to persons of limited means”; or
-
the work involves service without a fee or the expectation of a
fee as an officer of the court (such as a guardian ad litem) for
the benefit of a minor or incompetent party, even if the service
performed does not directly involve furnishing legal advice.
The
unmet legal needs of children and the working poor have never been
greater than they are today. The firms who show their lawyers that
they value and reward active pro bono service shape the culture of
the bar, and set the standard for the profession. Are you
in?
Notes
The principles that underlie the ABA Law Firm Pro Bono
Challenge, on which the HCBA Challenge was based, are discussed in
more detail online at http://www.probonoinst.org/challenge/.
BRIAN
MELENDEZ is president of the Minnesota State Bar Association and
a partner in the law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP. He received
his undergraduate and law degrees cum laude, as well as a master’s
degree in theology, from Harvard University. He is active in numerous
professional, civic, and alumni organizations both locally and nationally.
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