Background
The D.C. Circuit Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Pro Bono
Legal Services has surveyed law firms over a three-year period to learn
what percentage of lawyers have met the 1998 Judicial Conference Pro
Bono Resolution standard of devoting at least 50 hours each year to
pro bono legal work. A small but growing number of law firms report
that at least 40 percent of their lawyers had met this threshold with
most firms reporting roughly 25 percent or fewer of their lawyers having
performed this minimum amount of pro bono legal work. In 2003 and 2004,
Chief Judges Douglas H. Ginsburg and Thomas F. Hogan hosted the 40 at
50: Judicial Pro Bono Recognition Breakfast, for firms at which at least
40 percent of all lawyers have met the 50-hour goal. In 2003, seven
firms attended and in 2004, 12 firms qualified to attend.
The chief judges have challenged the legal
community to increase to 18 the number of firms that will qualify to
attend in 2005. In order to assist law firms in their efforts to evaluate
and enhance their pro bono programs, the Standing Committee undertook
this ‘Best Practices’ project to learn from the qualifying
40 at 50 why such a relatively small group of law firms have been so
successful in encouraging and supporting pro bono legal work by so many
of their lawyers.
 |
||
