NZLawyer magazine, Issue 148
October 29, 2010

Pro bono specialist Esther Lardent talks to Craig Sisterson about international trends towards formalised pro bono programmes for corporate legal teams as well as law firms.

There is a reason lawyers have led around the world in providing pro bono services to those in need, and that is “that we are a profession, and we do believe in service”, says Esther Lardent, President and CEO of the Pro Bono Institute, a highly regarded global public interest organisation “that offers research, analysis, technical assistance, publications, and training on innovative approaches to enhance access to justice for the poor and disadvantaged”.

Lardent was recently in New Zealand to visit DLA Phillips Fox, the Australasian firm that is part of the wider, global DLA Piper legal network which has worked with the Pro Bono Institute over the past 15 years to enhance its pro bono efforts and policies, including its award-winning New Perimeter global pro bono project. But it’s not just law firms Lardent works with.

Increasingly, in-house legal teams worldwide are likewise formalising their pro bono programmes and policies to best utilise their “incredible human resources” and ensure that their practices “support pro bono rather than unconsciously working against pro bono”. Since 2000, the Association of Corporate Counsel (the equivalent of CLANZ in the USA) has worked alongside the Pro Bono Institute on partnership project Corporate Pro Bono, which is designed to “substantially increase the amount of pro bono work performed by in-house counsel and to enhance the pro bono culture of in-house legal departments”. Corporates such as 3M Company, Bank of America, Credit Suisse First Boston, Ford Motor Company, Intel, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Pfizer, Sony Electronics, and Xerox, amongst many others, have crafted innovative, enduring, and accomplished pro bono models.

Making Pro Bono Easy
Although “a lot of pro bono is about grass roots and individual lawyers being passionate about certain issues that arise in their communities or their lives”, as lawyers, both in-house and in private practice, become busier and busier and their workloads and financial pressures become even more intense, “there is the danger that pro bono could get lost in all that”, says Lardent. That is where the value of having some greater structure, policy, and organisation to your legal team’s pro bono efforts can prove beneficial. “Making it as clear as possible how people can do pro bono, making it sufficiently simple for them to do pro bono, is a way of ensuring that as many lawyers as possible do pro bono work”.

The Pro Bono Institute helps teach legal teams how to “really integrate” pro bono into their “everyday working lives”, and supports them with research and resources. It helps them develop their own pro bono projects, structure their pro bono efforts, develop pro bono policies, overcome obstacles, record and promote pro bono within their organisation. Increasingly, the Pro Bono Institute also encourages in-house lawyers to partner with both public interest organisations and their external legal advisers on pro bono projects, and vice versa. “We also help them maximise the business benefits of pro bono,” says Lardent.

The Business Case
Lawyers and law firms don’t do pro bono because it helps their bottom line, says Lardent, but she believes that if you can make pro bono align with some of the other business goals of the organisation, then pro bono will be better established and have more traction. Pro bono is a wonderful vehicle for recruiting and training younger lawyers, and developing relationships between corporate and external lawyers, she adds.

Lawyers can often believe that “they sell time”, but this is incorrect, says Lardent. In fact, they sell talent. So getting “the best and the brightest, both experienced lawyers and young lawyers, is really critical to the continued vibrancy” of a legal team, whether in-house or in private practice. What Lardent sees, and expects is true throughout the world, is that pro bono is a very good way for an organisation to differentiate itself. It can be good for recruitment and retention, is symbolic of the fact the organisation doesn’t just see its lawyers “as a widget” but is committed to the development of the individual, creates a sense of teamwork and loyalty to the organisation, and makes it a place that people want to work. Pro bono also provides lawyers with a chance to hone and enhance their skills, it really “allows for advanced professional development” says Lardent.

Interestingly, independent studies in the United States have shown a positive correlation between pro bono and profitability, says Lardent. The old attitude that every hour spent on pro bono was “a lost hour” of work for your organisation (or a lost billable hour for external lawyers) has been disproved. “It’s very interesting that the most effective and productive people are often the most pro bono-engaged people,” says Lardent. “And in terms of all of the business things we were talking about, skills and experience and things like that, they’re seeing a very real bottom line benefit.”

Having a good pro bono programme can also provide great publicity for an organisation. “Lord knows, the world doesn’t love lawyers,” laughs Lardent, “but this is some good news around lawyers, and we’ve actually had, through pro bono in the US, some of the best, most positive publicity of the legal profession, focused on wonderful projects.”

Corporate Social Responsibility and Partnering
As organisations are becoming more conscious of the need for corporate social responsibility, says Lardent, they are taking a closer look at the pro bono work they do, and are asking those they work with (such as external law firms) what they do in terms of pro bono, both in terms of learning more about pro bono and how to do it better themselves and also because they see it as “part of fit and value” in their relationships.

“I don’t know if that’s taken hold much in New Zealand, but any global brand, McDonalds, General Motors, I could certainly list them all for you, that has a presence [in New Zealand] as well, they have pro bono programmes,” says Lardent. “And they want their lawyers to participate in pro bono work.”

Well-constructed and effective pro bono programmes can play a key part in what is often referred to as “the triple bottom line”, says Lardent. “In order to be successful, companies have to first obviously show strong revenue and earnings, but secondly, they have to be environmentally sustainable, because if we degrade the environment, we’re not going to be able to continue to make those products, and the third thing is to be good corporate citizens. Because if they’re doing well, but the communities around them are not, then soon they won’t be doing well either.”

If you would like more information about how to create or enhance your pro bono programmes, policies, and efforts, go to the Pro Bono Institute website at www.probonoinst.org. You can contact Esther Lardent at elardent@probonoinst.org.