ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

STANDING COMMITTEE ON PRO BONO AND PUBLIC SERVICE

INFORMATIONAL REPORT TO THE ABA HOUSE OF DELEGATES

The Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service continues to work with state, local; diversity and other bar associations; law firms; corporate counsel; the judiciary; law schools; government attorneys; and other national and international legal organizations to encourage and facilitate pro bono legal services. In particular, the Committee has developed model programs and policies to assist in the implementation of pro bono programs, has made available its expertise and guidance, and has sought to underscore publicly the importance of pro bono work to the profession.

The Pro Bono Committee planned and implemented the ninth annual National Celebration of Pro Bono held during the week of October 22-28, 2017 and, in some locations, throughout the month of October. The Committee provides a coordinated effort nationally with resources, ideas, models and more that can be replicated locally.The 2017 Celebration of Pro Bono generated over 1,350 local events in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and internationally, organized by more than 700 bar associations, law schools, law firms, courts and other organizations within the legal profession.Events highlighted the incredible difference pro bono lawyers make to our nation, to our system of justice, to our communities and, most of all, to the clients they serve. With excellent support from ABA Media Relations, the National Celebration of Pro Bono received extensive coverage in local and national legal and mainstream press conveying very positive messages about the ABA and America’s lawyers.

This year, the Committee, as part of the National Celebration of Pro Bono, was honored to encourage participants to develop pro bono service opportunities for homeless individuals in conjunction with ABA President Hilarie Bass's Homeless Youth Legal Network.The Committee is encouraging participants to extend their Celebration by holding pro bono events centered on homelessness on or around International Day for Street Children, April 12, 2018. The Committee will make special efforts to recognize the valuable pro bono contributions of lawyers who serve homeless individuals as part of the National Celebration of Pro Bono.

In August 2016 the Committee launched ABAFreeLegalAnswers.org (ABA FLA), an on-line virtual legal clinic through which eligible clients can post civil legal services questions to be answered by pro bono attorneys from their state. Currently, over 16,000 client questions have been submitted to ABA FLA since launch and over 4,000 pro bono attorneys are registered to respond to legal questions on the site. Forty-two U.S. jurisdictions are committed to participate in ABA FLA and 38 are connected to the site in various stages of access by clients, pro bono attorneys and/or state administrators.The ABA FLA national administrator is supporting the network of state administrators and refining the overall service in light of what the Committee is learning from those states which have activated their sites. The state administrators are focused on recruiting pro bono attorneys and promoting the site to the general public.

When Hurricane Harvey hit Texas on August 25, 2017, the Texas site temporarily increased its client income/asset maximum resulting in 1,001 additional questions submitted, increasing the state’s total by 144%. At the same time, 378 additional attorneys registered for the site, pursuant to a Texas Supreme Court emergency order permitting out-of-state attorneys to practice law temporarily to assist hurricane survivors, increasing registrations by 347%. Similarly, when Hurricane Irma hit Florida on September 10, 2017, the Florida site temporarily increased its client income/asset maximum resulting in 643 additional questions submitted, increasing the state’s total by 216%. Florida currently has 606 attorneys registered on the site, the second highest number nationwide.

The following additional efforts are currently underway:

With the assistance of the ABA Fund for Justice and Education and a grant from the American Arbitration Association, marketing campaigns through billboards and transit signs are being developed in several states to determine effectiveness of this type of outreach in reaching additional users who may not otherwise have access to traditional marketing materials.
As part of an Access to Justice initiative, the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution is working with the Veterans Administration in Memphis, Tennessee to create a pilot project using an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform to deliver family law assistance to veterans.Ultimately, the Committee hopes to use the platform through ABA FLA to provide users with an option to choose ODR as a process to resolve disputes in a variety of substantive areas of law.
The Tennessee FLA site has implemented a Legal Wellness Checkup for users to learn about their legal rights and areas of risk. Prior to submitting a legal question on ABA FLA, users are able to fill out information about their legal problem and the system provides the users with personalized links to booklets, forms, and videos. Based on Tennessee’s experience, together with input from the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, the Legal Wellness Checkup is intended to be adapted to all site jurisdictions.
The Committee is in discussions with Stanford University to gather data from ABA FLA which will assist with the prevention of legal problems of low income clients before they occur. The goal of this research is to gather data which will help identify the low income populations affected, the location of the low income populations affected, the types of legal problems that impact low income households, the geographical location of the households most impacted by each type of legal problem, and the seasonality, if any, of these legal problems.The Committee intends to use this research to determine how best to communicate legal information to low income households through all available channels.

Through its relationship with the Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, the Committee actively works to incorporate pro bono into the planning of Access to Justice Commissions with emphasis on judicial leadership and the adoption of pro bono policies and rules relevant to the particular needs of individual states. The two committees held a joint meeting in November 2017 as a means of strengthening their collaboration, exploring common areas of interest in responding to gaps in the civil legal services delivery system.

The ABA Center for Pro Bono, a project of the Committee, provides technical assistance on promoting and developing pro bono to every facet of the legal profession, including individual attorneys, law firms, law schools, bar associations, and nonprofit organizations providing pro bono legal services. Center staff provides technical assistance through a variety of means, including staff contact and discussion with individuals, the Center's website, publications, development of training programs at various conferences, and the Peer Consulting Project.

The Center staff also provides technical support on various aspects of pro bono development to ABA entities. Continuing efforts are underway with the Commission on Immigration; the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division; the Family Law Section; the Senior Lawyers Division; and the Business Law Section.

The Center for Pro Bono continues to promote the ABA Standards for Programs Providing Civil Pro Bono Legal Services to Persons of Limited Means in e-publication format during events such as the National Celebration of Pro Bono and at conferences attended by the legal services and pro bono communities.

As a way of demonstrating its own to commitment to pro bono, the Center for Pro Bono runs the ABA’s in-house pro bono project, the Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP). The VLP provides ABA lawyers the opportunity to fulfill their professional responsibility by identifying, communicating and coordinating pro bono activities. The Center has an on-going pro bonoopportunitywith the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic's Self Representation Assistance Project, in which ABA staff attorneys assist victims of domestic violence as they file for orders of protection. The Domestic Violence Legal Clinic provides training and supervision for ABA staff attorneys volunteering with this project.Similar efforts are being developed for attorneys who work in the D.C. office.

With the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Pro Bono Committee is currently developing programming for the 2018Equal Justice Conference to be held in San Diego, California on May 10-12. The conference ( is one of the largest events held each year bringing together a broad array of individuals committed to expanding access to justice for all. Attendees include bar leaders, judges, corporate counsel, government attorneys, legal services and pro bono program board members and staff, and others working to meet the civil legal needs of the poor. Special pre-conference programs will be offered on May 9rdfor law school pro bono and public service representatives, law firm pro bono managers, legal hotlinestaff, and new and experienced pro bono program directors. During the main conference, over 90 programs are offered including programs developed by several different ABA entities.

The Pro Bono Committee will be presenting the ABA Pro Bono Publico Awards at the signature Saturday luncheon event during the 2018Annual Meeting. This is the principal Association-wide event that recognizes the volunteer efforts of the private bar to provide civil legal services to the indigent.The Awards were first presented in 1984 and recognize lawyers and law firms for extraordinary contributions to extending volunteer legal services to the poor and disadvantaged. Nomination information is available at

The Pro Bono Committee regularly conducts empirical research on the pro bono participation of America’s lawyers. It has completed three national studies (Supporting Justice III: A Report on the Pro Bono Work of America’s Lawyerswas released in February 2013) and, more recently, replicated the national studies in 25 states across the country with the goal of providing data designed to help increase pro bono in those states. The Committee’s national and state studiesreflect lawyers’ continued awareness of pro bono as a professional responsibility and their strong ongoing commitment to volunteering their legal services to meet the legal needs of the poor. The reports contain extensive information about the quantitative findings of the study and comprehensive recommendations about what the organizedbar can do to grow the involvement of lawyers in doing this important work. The Committee continues to work on promoting strategies recommended in the reports for expanding pro bono.

The Committee has continued to work closely with the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) on that organization’s initiatives to expand the pro bono initiatives of its grantees. Support is provided for LSC’s Pro Bono Innovation Fund grantees, there is organizational collaboration on collecting and disseminating information about pro bono policies nationwide and the Committee has met with the LSC Board at its January meetings beginning in 2013 to explore additional strategies for working together on pro bono development.

The Committee has played a vital role in the development and support of the Working Group on Unaccompanied Minors that was appointed by ABA President William Hubbard in September 2014. To accomplish its mission, the Working Group collaborates with several ABA entities, including the Commission on Immigration, Center for Children and the Law, Children’sImmigration Law Academy (CILA), and various ABA sections and divisions such as the Section of Litigation, Family Law Section, Business Law Section, and Section of International Law. The Working Group’s activities have involved recruitment, training, and matching of pro bono attorneys with non-profit organizations; providing technical assistance to immigration legal services providers to build capacity for pro bono attorneys; and convening a symposium for immigration legal services providers.Activities have broadened to include national and regional coordination and support, research, and policy advocacy.

The Committee engaged in a comprehensive strategic planning process in October 2016. One year into the plan the Committee is assessing progress made, revising goals and priorities as necessary and resetting its focus.

Committee members and staff are regularly invited to participate in meetings, conference and other programs relating to the utilization of pro bono as a core component of the legal services delivery system.

Respectfully submitted,

George T. (Buck) Lewis, Chair

February2018