Pro Bono's Pros—and Cons: Rewards are great, but it takes a deft balance of time and effortAuthor(s): JILL SCHACHNER CHANENSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 84, No. 5 (MAY 1998), pp. 80-81Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27840250 .

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SOLO NETWORK

Pro Bono's Pros?and Cons Rewards are great, but it takes a deft balance of time and effort

BY JILL SCHACHNER CHANEN

Mary Daniel practices busi ness law and plans to keep doing so. But lately, Daniel, of the two person firm Hobert & Kerr in Berryville, Va., has been spend

ing time in divorce and chancery courts. She hasn't changed her

mind about her practice. Instead, she has begun to take on pro bo no cases through a local legal aid society.

"The cases remind me that there is another side out there, and [it's] not the money-driven, bottom-line-oriented people that I usually deal with," she says.

Like Daniel, solo and small firm practitioners choose to do pro bono work for the genuine purpose of helping the indigent. The psychic rewards are consid erable but so are the practical rewards?learning other areas of

the law, boning up on courthouse skills, making contacts and gaining new clients.

But for many solo lawyers, fre quently strapped for time and con

stantly vigilant over the checkbook, pro bono work demands a conscious balance of time and effort.

Unlike their large-firm col leagues who have bountiful re sources at their disposal, solo and small-firm attorneys find that they need to be choosy about which cases to take and care ful when it comes to organizing their schedules.

"The psychological lift I get from helping someone who really needs it is overwhelm ing," says Nashville solo John

D. Kitch. "However, you have to learn to say no?it's simply a matter of organizing well enough that the pro bono case doesn't eat all your time."

Kitch's method is to treat pro bono cases the same as fee

generating ones and integrate them into his normal business schedule.

"The important thing is to remember that it's a real case, like all your others, and not to be back-burnered just because it doesn't make you money."

80 ABA JOURNAL / MAY 1998

Mary Daniel (right) offers her time to clients at Blue Ridge Legal Services in Winchester, Va.

Solo practitioner Ruthann P. Lacey has devised a formula for blending pro bono cases into her elder law practice. "I take on select pro bono cases when I see a real need that I know I can help fill, and when I like the individual," says Lacey, of Tucker, Ga.

"I owe the same duty of dili gence to each client. Some [cases]

just pay better than others." Given the nature of small-prac

tice billing, some lawyers find they are taking on unintended pro bo no cases. "I have a lot of cases that turn out to be pro bono, but I didn't plan them that way," says Joanne C. Fray of Lexington, Mass.

"Many times," says David A. Huntoon, of Torrington, Conn., "I

Ideas Exchange The ABA Journal and Solosez, an ABA e-mail forum for solo and small-firm lawyers, have

teamed up to let ABA members share advice online on this month's Solo Network topic. Excerpts from the ongoing discussion appear below. To join the chat group, send this message to listserver@abanet.org: subscribe solosez your e-mail address. (No other

words are necessary.) Or preview Solosez at www.abanet.org/solo/home.html on the

Internet.

On pro bono work John D. Kitch (jdkitch@edge.net) Nashville

[0]ur profession is the only one where all its members are expected to give away services for free as a

public service. I don't see too many brain surgeons in free clinics for the poor.

Joanne C. Fray (JoFray@aol.com) Lexington, Mass.

Small-firm and solo lawyers are more likely to do court appointment work that in many states (like Massachusetts) pays $35 an hour. I

consider that pro bono since it costs me about $75 an hour to keep my doors open. The bar and the courts, however, don't consider it pro bono. Judges who used to be members of

large firms (and know next to nothing about overhead) just don't seem to understand.

Larry Kramer (lkramer@ricochet.net) Silver Spring, Md.

As a solo, it is very difficult to take on pro bono work. Any time spent doing work that is not

generating income is hard to justify.

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wind up donating my time and also paying [pro bono clients'] filing fees or publication costs after they have agreed to pay it. It is hard to take pro bono cases and get expense re tainers, so it is a risk you take."

fSBM New Contacts, New Knowledge hh|H For solos who take the risk, the

^HB advantages are both practical and psychological. On the practical side,

I^^H lawyers find they can make con tacts that may lead to paying cli ents. Says Nashville's Kitch, "If a pro bono client that you have repre sented is happy with what you did, they have family and friends that they tell about you. ... If you meet

^^^h enough people that will happen." Many also find pro bono cases

allow them to learn other areas of law. That certainly is the case with

^^Hj Daniel, a commercial lawyer whose ^HH pro bono work is largely family law. ^Hfl "I only take on pro bono cases

^^ g that are outside of my area of ex

^^^H pertise, after the experts cannot be retained," Daniel says. "I stay in terested in the case, I'm always

^^^B learning, and I don't compare the HHi pro bono client to a paying client."

Daniel has learned about par titioning real estate, chancery court procedures, and even how to locate and serve distant relatives. "What I have learned in these cases tends to be very helpful in my other cases," she says. "If I was going through it for the first time for a $2 million client, I might have a harder time, but going through it the first time with a pro bono client is easier."

W. Damian Rickert, a solo prac

titioner in Hay ward, Calif., began taking pro bono referrals from a local bar program four years ago, in part to help introduce himself to his community. He found that the training and support networks served as a practical, continuing legal education resource.

Now, with more experience, Rickert says his pro bono work keeps a sometimes routine practice interesting.

"Pro bono clients tend to have some strange circumstances. These cases have exposed me to situations that I would not have otherwise been able to see," he says of the disability and welfare programs he has learned about.

Broader Background Helps Solo and small firm lawyers

also find their broad range of skills more suitable to the nimble and changeable nature of pro bono work than the singular expertise of large-firm attorneys.

Especially in areas such as fam ily law, where large firms rarely tread, solo practitioners find a cry ing need for their services.

"There are no big firms servic ing the types of clients I represent on a pro bono basis," says Janine L.

Rice, a family law practitioner from Ellicott City, Md.

Says Kitch bluntly: "The ma jority of the time, without solos and small-firm folks, there would be no pro bono."

For these lawyers, it's simply a matter of seeing a need?and also their own opportunities.

However, 1 do find myself, on many occasions, doing work that I know I won't get paid for or that I won't even bill.

David A. Huntoon

(david.huntoon@snet.net) Torrington, Conn.

I believe that there are more than market forces and business practices deciding our financial success in life. ... The greedy 1980s are over, thank God.

Christina Kaiias (ckallas@juno.com) New York City

I like working together with other people to solve a problem. I was accustomed to doing that when I was at a firm. When I undertake a

pro bono matter, I am not isolated, which can be a problem for solos.

Janine L Rice (ricelaw@erols.com) Ellicott City, Md.

My clients, the paying ones, don't need mahogany furniture and palatial office space.1 When I left government service for private practice, it was, in part, so I could make a commitment to providing pro bono legal services.

Lisa M. Alberto (la-law@ma.ultranet.com) Milford, Mass.

I think pro bono work, especially in the family law area, is very important given the high number of pro se litigants in the probate courts. Although I disagree that pro bono work should be

mandatory, I think it is a form of community service that every attorney should consider.

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