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Pro Bono

Business As Usual When It Comes to Pro Bono

January 7, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant
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Last Saturday, the Washington Post published this op-ed piece, Pro Bono:  A Better Alternative by Joel Sheptow, a Stanford Law student who’s participating in a student project that provides pro bono service.  Based on his experience, Sheptow proposes that rather than refer pro bono matters to already over-worked large firm associates, the bar should encourage [...]

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Can We Lawyers Please Stop Patting Ourselves on The Back?

August 7, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant
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What if you went to a client and boasted that in the past year, you spent 300 hours working on his case?  The client would probably respond, “So what, what kind of results did you get me?”  Yet apparently, the American Bar Association (whose efforts at blogging the ABA annual meeting are a little bit [...]

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How Is this Pro Bono – Sounds Like Marketing To Me!

August 7, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant
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This Press Release (PR Newswire 8/4/05) proudly proclaims that “for the first time in the history of bioethics, a major global law firm, (that would be Milbank, Tweed) makes its legal resources available, pro bono publico, for the analysis of biotechnology and its impact on women.”  The release goes on to describe that Milbank will [...]

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Federal Judges Honor Pro Bono – But Exclude Solos

April 19, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant
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According to this Press Release, the Chief Judges of the D.C. Circuit will be honoring eight Washington D.C. law firms for commitment to pro bono as evidenced by meeting a benchmark of 40 percent of lawyers performing 50 hours or more of pro bono service.  But sadly, though I’m a member of the DC Bar, [...]

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The Law School Consortium

March 31, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant
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Here’s a news item about the Law School Consortium.  It’s a program that recognizes the role that solo and small firm lawyers play in meeting the legal needs of the poor – and provides support for those who choose that route: [CUNY Program Director Fred] Rooney calls this Low Bono legal assistance. By joining forces, [...]

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Small Firm Does Pro Bono

February 23, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant
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Bob Ambrogi reports here on the pro bono work of a two attorney firm, Moran and Gottlieb and links to this story about the firm in the Poughkeepsie Journal.  Subsidizing their pro bono work with revenues from paying clients, Moran and Gottlieb maintain a free telephone hotline to field questions from anyone who cares to [...]

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Is $400 an Hour Pro Bono?

February 9, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant
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In this prior post, we discussed whether discounts given by solo and small firm lawyers on work performed for low income clients might count as pro bono.   For those who don’t endorse that idea, consider this:  big law firm Skadden Arps wants to claim that its work to bring a school district into compliance with [...]

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A2J Project

January 18, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant
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This article, Internet Attorney:  More Than Pro Se, New Factor Network (1/17/05) reports on the Chicago-Ken College of Law’s Access to Justice (A2J) program that includes a sophisticated computer system for pro se litigants to file complaints and pleadings.  But it also includes other toosl such as a “Logic Learner” that teaches litigants how to [...]

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Solos and Pro Bono

December 12, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant
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This article, Solo and Small Firm Attorneys Lack Time for Pro Bono, NYLJ (12/13/04) reports on some of the obstacles that solo and small firms face in meeting the recommended 20 hours/year of pro bono.  The article lists the four top reasons lawyers gave for not participating in pro bono programs:  the demand of time [...]

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IF YOU’RE GOING TO FORCE PRO BONO, DON’T MAKE IT EQUITABLE

November 6, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant
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For various reasons, I do not endorse mandatory pro bono requirements, even as I, personally, have made a point of taking on several pro bono matters each year during my sixteen years of practice. I just don’t think the bar can force attorneys to undertake what is a personal moral obligation. But to the extent [...]

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