When you read or hear news about pro bono legal work being done, the odds are pretty good that it’s coming from a law firm, often one with hundreds (if not thousands) of lawyers. Good deeds make for good press. No doubt about that.
But let’s keep in mind that while law firms like to take credit for pro bono, the work itself is still done by individual lawyers. Yup. People like you and me. American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1 encourages each of us—lawyers, not law firms—to voluntarily provide some services on a pro bono basis. How much we provide is less important than the fact that we do provide. In the words of the ABA Model Rules’ Preamble and Scope, when we joined the legal profession, we each became a “public citizen” with a “special responsibility” for ensuring the “quality of justice” for everyone, rich and poor alike.
Model Rule 6.1 doesn’t dictate how we’re expected to carry out this special responsibility. Rather, it’s up to each of us to figure out how we can best do pro bono work as part of our law practice. Most of us went to law school because we wanted to help people. And yet, we sometimes end up literally or figuratively locking our doors to those who can’t pay much or at all. If we do that, then we’re missing out on the unbridled joy of helping others, which is the very best part of practicing law.
