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Policy

Pro Bono Reporting

States have developed two different models of pro bono reporting systems: rules requiring attorneys to report their pro bono activity (mandatory pro bono reporting) and rules suggesting that attorneys volunteer such information (voluntary pro bono reporting).

Mandatory Pro Bono Reporting

Ten states currently require attorneys to report their pro bono hours. California will begin to require reporting in 2026.

California

AB 2505 Requires active licensees to report annually whether they have provided pro bono legal services through the My State Bar online profile. Reporting begins in 2026 but the bar will ask lawyers to voluntarily provide their 2024 pro bono totals in the 2025 fee billing cycle. 

Florida
Rule 4-6.1 of the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct
Florida implemented mandatory pro bono in 1993 and was the first state to do so. Hours are reported with annual membership dues.

Hawaii
Hawaii Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 17(d)(1)(B).
Hawaii implemented mandatory pro bono reporting in 2007. Pro bono hours are reported in the annual attorney registration.

Illinois
Illinois Supreme Court Rule 756(f)
Illinois adopted the reporting requirement in 2006. Pro bono hours are reported with annual attorney registration.

Indiana
Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 6.7.
Mandatory reporting implemented in 2016. Pro bono hours are reported during the annual attorney registration.

Maryland
Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 19-503. Mandatory reporting began in 2002. Pro bono hours are reported annually with IOLTA compliance.

Minnesota 
Minn. Sup. Ct. Lawyer. Registration R. 25
 
Adopted in 2022. Attorneys must report thir pro bono hours each year in their annual Lawyer Registration Statement.

Mississippi
Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 6.1(e). Adopted in 2005. Pro bono hours are reported in the annual membership fees statement.

Nevada
Nevada Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 6.1(b). Pro bono hours are reported annually as part of the annual membership fees statement.

New Mexico
New Mexico Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 24-108. Implemented in 2008. Pro bono hours are reported through annual membership renewal. 

New York
22 NYCRR &118.1(e)(14). Pro bono hours are reported in the biennial registration process. 

*Special note about New Jersey: The New Jersey Bar assigns legal work to attorneys, representing indigent litigants in cases where the legislature has made no provision for a public defender. Attorneys are required to annually report their compliance with pro bono requirements during the annual registration process. However, this is a separate and unique program and the Standing Committee does not consider it as fitting in our definition of mandatory pro bono reporting.  


Reasons In Favor of Implementing Mandatory Pro Bono Reporting

  • It is a simple mechanism for attempting to increase delivery of legal services to poor (e.g. actual increase in Florida) and level of service to community
  • It is an effective mechanism for collecting reliable, accurate, consistent data to evaluate delivery of pro bono legal services to the poor
  • It provides data essential for design of successful programs
  • It may increase monetary contributions
  • Reporting creates positive peer pressure
  • It promotes increased access to justice/courts
  • It promotes involvement in pro bono
  • Requiring reporting promises high rates of reporting
  • Data collected can send a message to non-legal community about their responsibility to fund legal services for poor
  • It enables recognition of contributing lawyers
  • It can be inexpensive
  • It facilitates engendering confidence in the bar
  • It may make demographics collectible
  • The data can be used to enhance image of lawyers
  • It encourages fulfillment of professional responsibility
  • It may raise consciousness about the professional responsibility to provide pro bono legal services
  • It may raise awareness of need for free or reduced fee legal services
  • It may raise awareness of opportunities for pro bono involvement
  • It may obviate mandatory pro bono service controversy

Reasons Against Implementing Mandatory Pro Bono Reporting

  • Reporting violates constitutional right to privacy because publicizes private acts of charity and divulges names of recipients
  • Reporting violates the right to be free from involuntary servitude
  • Reporting is a step toward mandatory pro bono
  • Implementing reporting invites political opposition to pro bono
  • It may be difficult to find support
  • It may be unnecessary
  • It may be counterproductive to goal of increasing delivery of direct legal services to the poor
  • The administrative costs involved in collecting and processing information, as well as in taking disciplinary action or imposing sanctions, may be prohibitive
  • It may engender negative peer pressure
  • It creates an onerous responsibility for attorneys
  • The public and press can use the information to criticize the bar
  • It is for the legislature, not the judiciary to decide (not judiciary's role to encourage charitable activities)
  • Reporting does not serve the public interest
  • It is difficult to determine what type of discipline is appropriate for failure to report
  • The true motive is to persuade or shame lawyers into doing pro bono work
  • Judicial aspirants could be affected by information provided in past years
  • It burdens the state with the need to devise collection methods and penalties for noncompliance with the rule
  • It imposes a financial burden on the state
  • Pro bono can become a negative rather than positive concept if bar members express opposition

 

Voluntary Pro Bono Reporting

26 states have implemented a voluntary pro bono reporting mechanism. Some of these 

Alabama 
Pro bono hours can be reported to the Alabama Law Foundation. Lawyers who provide 50 or more hours of pro bono legal services will be honored by the Alabama Supreme Court.

Arizona
Implemented in 1994. Attorneys are asked to report on their annual dues statement.

Arkansas
Arkansas attorneys can choose to report their pro bono hours to the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission through their attorney profile on the Arkansas Judiciary website.

Colorado
The Colorado Supreme Court encourages attorneys to report their pro bono hours for recognition by emailing the state Access to Justice Coordinator.

Connecticut
Adopted in 2012. Attorneys are asked to report as part of the annual electronic registration.

District of Columbia
Lawyers may submit a declaration stating that they completed 50 or more hours of pro bono legal services in order to register for the Pro Bono Honor Roll.

Georgia
Implemented in 2000. Lawyers only answer whether they have met the aspirational goal of 50 hours of pro bono work as part of the annual attorney dues and registration statement. Attorneys who exceed the 50-hour pro bono service goal are encouraged to report their hours to the Georgia State Bar for recognition.

Iowa
Attorneys may report their pro bono service hours on their annual report.

Kansas
The Kansas Bar Association requests that attorneys report pro bono service hours through their KBA member profile.

Kentucky
Implemented in 2005. Attorneys are asked to report with the annual dues statement. Lawyers rendering fifty hours of donated legal services  receive a recognition award from the Kentucky Bar Association.

Louisiana
Began in 1998. Attorneys are asked to report their pro bono activity annually through their Louisiana State Bar online member account.

Maine
Attorneys may participate in the Katahdin Counsel Recognition Program for pro bono services by either reporting their hours through their annual registration statement or by submitting the Katahdin Counsel Verification form by email or physical mail.

Massachusetts
Attorneys may apply for the SJC Pro Bono Honor Roll by completing the certification form stating that they have completed 50+ or 100+ hours of pro bono legal services.

Michigan
Attorneys may report their pro bono service hours and apply for recognition on the Pro Bono Honor Roll through A Lawyer Helps, a program of the Michigan State Bar Association.

Missouri
Attorneys can voluntarily submit their pro bono hours to the Missouri State Bar. Attorneys who complete more than 40 hours of pro bono work in a year are recognized on the Missouri State Bar's Pro Bono Wall of Fame.

Montana
Implemented in 2003. Pro bono reporting is coupled with the annual mandatory IOLTA reporting. This has resulted in a high response rate for Montana attorneys.

North Carolina
The NC Pro Bono Resource Center and the NC State Bar Association will be partnering to include a voluntary pro bono reporting category in the membership fee statement.

North Dakota
The State Bar Association of North Dakota
permits attorneys to voluntarily record their pro bono hours either on the state bar website or by submitting a Justice For All Lawyer Program Verification Form. Attorneys certify if they completed at least 50 hours of pro bono
work.

Ohio
Implemented in 2007. The Supreme Court partners with the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation to collect data online. Ohio ATJ files an annual report of aggregate data with the Supreme Court.

Oregon
Implemented in 2002. Attorneys are encouraged to report their pro bono time voluntarily as part of the “Pro Bono Roll Call”. Reporting is via the Oregon State Bar website.

Tennessee
Implemented in 2009. Tennessee adopted a rule requesting that attorneys who are required to file an Annual Registration voluntarily file a statement reporting pro bono service and activity.

Texas
Implemented in 2005. The State began conducting random phone surveys of 500 attorneys about pro bono work. Pro bono hours can also be reported through the State Bar of Texas website.

Utah
Attorneys are encouraged to report their pro bono service hours through a form that is part of their annual dues statement.

Virginia
Implemented in 2017. Active Virginia attorneys are asked to report as part of the annual dues renewal process, which can be done online or by mail.

Washington
Implemented in 2003. Information is collected as part of the annual licensing process.

Wisconsin
Attorneys who exceed the 50-hour pro bono service goal are encouraged to report their hours for certification to the Pro Bono Honor Society.

Reasons In Favor of Implementing Voluntary Pro Bono Reporting

  • Voluntary reporting is less of a burden on attorneys because it is optional
  • It is not a threat to constitutional rights
  • There is no need to focus energies on discipline
  • It is easy to implement
  • Voluntary reporting may enable the collection of data
  • Data can send a message to non-legal community about their responsibility to fund legal services for poor
  • It enables recognition of contributing lawyers
  • It can be inexpensive
  • It facilitates engendering confidence in the bar
  • It may make demographics collectible
  • The data can be used to enhance the image of lawyers
  • It may raise consciousness about the professional responsibility to provide pro bono legal services
  • It may raise awareness of need for free or reduced fee legal services
  • It may raise awareness of opportunities for pro bono involvement
  • It may increase monetary contributions to providers of legal services

Reasons Against Implementing Voluntary Pro Bono Reporting

  • Voluntary reporting has a low response rate
  • It collects insufficient data to draw statistically valid conclusions
  • If the reporting is on separate forms from bar dues/licensing renewal, it may get lost or discarded
  • Trying to track activity may be burdensome due to low response rate
  • Some activities not recognized or promoted (e.g. legal services rendered in rural communities or non-legal community service activities)
  • If the form is not on a dues statement, a complete analysis of collected data impossible because inclusion of personal information optional
  • It is ineffective
  • It may not encourage or promote fulfillment of professional responsibility to provide access to justice
  • It may not raise consciousness about pro bono or professional responsibility

Updated May 23, 2024