The Wire
June 18, 2015
“Earlier this year, the Association of Corporate Counsel** (ACC) released its Chief Legal Officers (CLO) 2015 Survey, in which 60 percent of responding CLOs of legal departments with 50 or more lawyers and more than 30 percent of responding CLOs of legal departments across all categories reported that they encourage their legal staff to engage in pro bono. Such results are consistent with the experience of Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), Pro Bono Institute (PBI) and ACC’s global partnership project, which has worked with hundreds of legal departments, both large and small, and has seen a tremendous increase in in-house pro bono engagement over the past 15 years.
“ACC’s 2015 Survey indicates that the most common reasons CLOs list for not encouraging pro bono (they could select more than one) are that their departments are too small (64 percent) and their legal staff is stretched too thin (60 percent). Of the 1,048 CLOs responding to the survey question regarding pro bono, 977 are from departments with 49 or fewer employees, including lawyers, with the majority of those CLOs from departments with two to nine employees. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways lawyers in small departments can participate in pro bono that are both meaningful for volunteers and clients and accommodate volunteers’ concerns about time.
“One option is working with ACC chapter pro bono programs, which offer a variety of projects. CPBO has published a series of best practice profiles highlighting a number of chapter pro bono programs and the opportunities they offer, from conducting half-day legal audits for nonprofit organizations at CPBO’s Clinic in a Box® programs to providing scheduled mediation services. Participating in such efforts not only helps the community but gives in-house counsel the opportunity to work with peers in other legal departments on finite matters.
“There are also opportunities with legal services organizations, law firms, and local bar associations that are ideal for busy in-house counsel. For example, the legal department of The Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jack** has made a strong commitment to pro bono service despite having a small staff of only 10, four of whom are attorneys, by working with local partners to provide pro bono services.”