How to Start Pro Bono Work

Introduction

Pro bono is short for the Latin word pro bono public, meaning "for the public good." The term usually applies to services provided to the client by a provider either free of charge or at substantially reduced costs — that is, on a pro bono basis. Non-profit agencies such as hospitals, libraries, national charities, churches and trusts, or private clients who cannot afford to pay the standard rate, are given pro bono programs to practitioners in certain areas.

The term pro bono is used mainly in the legal industry because attorneys are bound by ethical laws to charge fair fees and offer free licensed care to those who order to serve the public interest. If such, the supplier is assumed to be providing a reward for the common good, rather than acting with the usual profit motive. The American Bar Association — which has a pro bono page on its website — recommends contributing 50 hours a year to extra bono service for all attorneys.

Process

Safe assistance to management

To make your legal team more confident, upholding their ethical obligation and dedicating client time and money to pro bono programs, the Chief Legal Officer of the organization needs to support the initiative. Senior management guidance is essential to the effectiveness of the pro bono system in the legal team, regardless of the scale or composition of the group.

To receive sponsorship, offer excellent explanations of the program's numerous expected benefits – to the participant, the company, customers, and the community. Recall also the increasing need for pro bono legal assistance and good corporate citizenship for the management.

Determine the Interests, Activities, and Skills of your Legal Department and Company

Benefits of Pro Bono to Business Benefits of Pro Bono to Clients and the Society Determining the Legal Team and Company's Priorities, Events and Skills An existing and thriving Pro Bono plan will benefit a variety of programs and other priorities. For general, there are two types of projects: conventional pro bono litigation and pro bono litigation cases that allow people to testify in court, as well as less adversarial situations that, though lawsuit-based, are more institutional, such as lawsuits involving veterans or social security compensation.

To Conclude

Examine Group demands and recognize resources and collaborators

Once your legal department goes even further, get acquainted with the unmet legal needs of the areas where your legal department works. Read from local and regional pro bono agencies (legal aid companies monitoring and positioning pro bono cases, law firms with active pro bono initiatives, economic engagement groups, and non-profit organizations) and the kinds of matters they most urgently need support for.

These will be the matters most commonly accessible and those from which the legal team will have the most effect. Additionally, ask what other law offices are doing in your region and call the local ACC Chapters to decide what pro bono events they may have scheduled. Also ask about transactional bono incentives, separate and time-limited bono projects, as well as other pro bono initiatives that resolve questions or problems posed by your peers in response to the pro bono survey—using this time to analyze the environment and get answers to your questions.