Participants make a fi rmwide


commitment to provide pro bono services to low-income and dis- advantaged individuals, families, and nonprofi t organizations. To help fi rms honor this commit- ment, the Law Firm Pro Bono Project assists the fi rms in creat- ing a supportive environment that promotes pro bono service. Members and signatories are


not the same. Members are all PBI clientele. Signatories are members who participate in the challenge. T e initiative challenges fi rms


ESTHER LARDENT


to spend at least 3-to-5 percent of their total hours on pro bono work annually, a percentage that has become the industry standard, PBI offi cials say. “When we fi rst set that goal, people said that it would


never work. Last year, fi rms that were signatories to our Challenge® reported over 4.5 million pro bono hours,” says Lardent of the 135 fi rms that reported results. PBI works one-on-one with its members to develop a


strategy for growing a new pro bono program or reinvigo- rating an existing one. PBI specializes in improving pro bono participation rates, helping fi rms to partner with public interest programs or corporate legal departments and developing signature projects where fi rms focus on one particular area of the law. As an organization, they also work with entire states,


local governments, and cities via pro bono summits. PBI has a paid staff . T e organization has multiple


income streams, the largest being charitable contributions. Members pay a membership fee. PBI also host an annual conference. PBI frequently takes the temperature of the industry’s


pro bono climate. Statistics from the 2010 Pro Bono Institute Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® showed the 138 fi rms performed a combined 4,451,009.52 total hours of pro bono work, as compared to 134 reporting fi rms that performed 4,867,820 hours in 2009, an 8.56 percent decrease in pro bono time contributed by Challenge® fi rms.


MCCA.COM LISA W. BORDEN


T e 2009 fi gure represented


the highest performance by Challenge® fi rms ever. While it’s seemingly counter-


intuitive, pro bono work can be sustained during a recession. “T rough a recession pro


bono is steady,” says Lardent. “Economically, 2009 was a pretty bad year, but pro bono did well. T e recovery period, she


explains, is the hard part. “T e work is beginning to


come back but fi rms are nervous about increasing their head count and lawyers are [doing]


every possible piece of [billable] work they can get,” says Lardent explaining that pro bono could get lost in the shuffl e of the recovery period. Baker Donelson’s Pro Bono Shareholder Lisa W. Borden


calls PBI a godsend. PBI assisted Borden in implementing a billable-hour credit program by which staff members receive billable-hour credit for their pro bono work at her fi rm. “T ey helped me with research as well as (provided) tips


on how to present initiatives to my fi rm’s management in the most attractive way,” Borden says. From 2008 to 2010, Baker Donelson doubled its pro


bono hours. “A chunk of that came from increasing our shareholder


participation,” says Borden. “Shareholders participation increased quite a bit more than our associate participation.”


THE BOTTOM LINE T e Great Recession created an unprecedented need for pro bono services. “T e number of people living in poverty is at an all-time


high, while governmental funding programs for legal services have dropped precipitously,” Lardent says. Budget constraints have caused nonprofi t programs


funded by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), a legal aid organization designed to provide civil legal assistance to low- income Americans, to implement layoff s and staff reductions. According to a recent survey, programs funded by the


continued on page 44 MARCH/APRIL 2012 DIVERSITY & THE BAR® 43


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