Starting next year, new lawyers will have to perform 50 hours of pro bono work in order to get a license to practice In New York. The chief judge of the state's highest court, Jonathan Lippman, announced the new requirement yesterday, saying that it is intended to provide about a half-million hours of legal services to people with urgent problems, like foreclosure and domestic violence, who cannot afford to pay. Here's the speech, from the New York Law Journal. The rules have yet to be drafted and it is not clear at this point whether the requirement will apply to already licensed lawyers from other states applying for New York licensure. Justice Lippman believes the new requirement would not be onerous, and could be a source of satisfaction to most lawyers. His staff noted that the requirement could be met in a weeklong summer internship.
Michigan's pro bono rule, like all other jurisdictions except New York's, is voluntary. The State Bar's Pro Bono Standard, which gives lawyers guidance about annual pro bono expectations, is three cases or 30 hours of free legal help for low-income persons, or a $300 donation to a nonprofit legal aid program; lawyers with the ability to contribute more than $300 are encouraged to donate $500 or more. Michigan's lawyers give generously of their time and money, but the need is far greater than their generosity. In 2009 more than a third of those who qualified for legal aid in Michigan were turned away due to lack of resources; of those served, almost half did not receive the level of legal assistance needed to resolve their cases. The New York situation appears even more dire. The New York Legal Aid Society reports that it must turn away eight out of every nine people who seek services.
The New York Times story is here. For an opposing view on mandatory pro bono, see this piece from Esther Lardent of the Pro Bono Institute. And Carolyn Elefant has weighed in with a passionate protest that, among other things, the rule is an undue burden on solo practitioners.
