Workshop: Causes, Consequences, and Contestation in Pro Bono Lawyering

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The principle and practice of pro bono -- volunteer legal services for poor and other marginalized groups -- is an increasingly important feature of civil legal aid systems. A quarter century ago, pro bono was an ancillary feature of legal services. Now, in contrast, it has become widely diffused and institutionally central in a growing number of justice systems. Yet as pro bono spreads, promoted by powerful sponsors and mobilized by local lawyers, law firms, and the organized bar, it develops in diverse ways that reveal different approaches and unique understandings of the role that volunteer services should play in system design. What does the rise of pro bono mean for the pursuit of access to justice? Empirical research is essential to better understanding how pro bono operates in different contexts. Toward that end, this travel grant will bring together leading and emerging law and social science scholars to explore how pro bono has been shaped by cross-cutting factors: the relative independence of the local legal profession, the structure of government, the development of large law firms and the power of corporate clients, potential competition with the plaintiffs' bar, the interaction between market-based and state-based systems for providing legal services to the poor, the influence of major private funders, the role of legal education, and the local nature of the legal need.