Pro bono legal counsel can offer tremendous support for a non-profit organization by augmenting its existing legal resources and easing budget constraints. Because of the potential for such positive gain, non-profit in-house counsel should think strategically about how to develop and nurture pro bono relationships and to best use pro bono resources. Here are our top ten tips for creating an effective pro bono program for your non-profit organization:
1. Assess the pro bono needs of your organization and identify a suitable law firm partner.
Prior to seeking a pro bono partner, you should identify any unmet legal needs of your organization. These needs may involve matters outside of the areas of expertise of in-house counsel or matters that exceed the organization's existing in-house legal resources. If you conclude that your organization does not have any unmet needs, determine what pro bono legal services would be of most benefit to your organization.
After completing your assessment, you should seek a pro bono partner who can help meet the needs of your organization. For instance, you should determine the extent to which the potential partner possesses the expertise in the various areas for which you expect to need pro bono assistance. Although it is easier to create and maintain a relationship with a single law firm partner, you may need to develop pro bono relationships with more than one law firm to meet the needs of your organization.
You should routinely reassess your organization's needs and determine if you should seek to expand the scope of existing pro bono relationships or develop entirely new pro bono relationships. Similarly, when first joining an organization, it is essential for new in-house counsel to promptly assess the organization's existing pro bono relationships and determine how to best ensure their continuation.
2. Identify or cultivate an internal champion.
An internal champion is a person of influence within a law firm who has the ability to garner pro bono resources for your organization. Sometimes, there is a natural or pre-existing internal champion because the individual has a personal connection to you, your organization or your organization's cause. In other instances, you will need to gradually create such a relationship. This may require you to start working with someone on small projects and see if you can expand that individual's commitment to your work. The internal champion should be seen as the client relations manager for the law firm's relationship with your organization. It is important that you strategize with the internal champion about how to recruit and manage pro bono support from the firm.
And remember, just as effective non-profits plan for leadership succession on their boards, a successful non-profit pro bono program needs to plan for internal champion succession. Ask yourself, if the current internal champion leaves the firm, will the firm have the same commitment to your organization? If not, you may need to develop deeper relationships with others in the firm who can step in if the internal champion is no longer available to serve that function.
3. Understand how a law firm benefits from pro bono work.
Understanding what factors may lead a firm to support its attorneys' pro bono projects is crucial to developing strong relationships with pro bono counsel. For some firms, it is as simple as believing in the mission of a non-profit organization and wanting to work in support of its cause. However, in order to develop the most effective pro bono relationship possible, you need to look beyond the desire of a firm to "do good."
There are several ways that a law firm can benefit from pro bono work. For instance:
- A firm can gain positive publicity as a result of its pro bono representations. Pro bono projects can be excellent training grounds for a firm's junior attorneys. A firm can benefit from networking opportunities created through pro bono work.
Understanding the ways that a firm can benefit from pro bono work can help you to recruit an internal champion as well as assist the internal champion in "selling" the pro bono representation of your organization to the champion's firm.
4. Understand and respect the scope of your relationship with your law firm partner.
When entering into a formal pro bono relationship with your law firm partner, it is crucial that you pay close attention to the engagement letter. Your organization must be prepared to waive conflicts and should have a clear understanding of what fees the firm can incur on its behalf.
Equally as important, you must understand and respect the scope of the pro bono representation. Recognize and be respectful of areas where your law firm partner does not provide assistance on a pro bono basis. For example, if a firm has a strong tax practice focusing on non-profit issues, you may not be able to get such services for free, because a significant number of clients for that particular group are non-profits. Seeking pro bono assistance for a project in such an area could place the internal champion in an awkward position and be harmful to the pro bono relationship.
5. Understand your law firm partner's pro bono policies and what projects are well-suited for pro bono assistance.
Not every project is well-suited for pro bono support. You need to make an honest assessment of whether or not a project is a good candidate for pro bono assistance to avoid creating a negative scenario that harms your relationship with your law firm partner or creates an unsatisfactory outcome. In addition to limiting the projects to those within the scope of the pro bono engagement, there are several other factors that you should also consider.
As many law firms decide to support a non-profit organization for reasons related to the organization's cause, the most suitable projects for pro bono assistance are typically ones that relate to your organization's core mission.
Another important consideration is the level of specialization and the areas of expertise required by the project. Projects best suited for pro bono assistance are those within the firm's core area of expertise. Given the time constraints of many pro bono counsel, you may find it difficult to get a thorough and accurate work product if the subject matter is highly complex, technical and requires that pro bono counsel learn a new set of skills or knowledge.
The project's timeline and anticipated time commitment are also important considerations. In the current climate, law firm attorneys feel extreme pressure to meet their billable hour targets. Lawyers may naturally gravitate towards "slow-burning" pro bono projects that they can fit in between other work. You may find it considerably more difficult to "sell" projects that could potentially involve last minute emergencies and urgent turnaround times or create time conflicts.
In order to thoughtfully consider these factors, you should understand the law firm's policies regarding pro bono work. For instance, you should understand how the firm counts pro bono hours. Are they fully equal to other billable hours, given "soft" credit or effectively not acknowledged in a meaningful fashion in the firm's metrics? Are there caps on an attorney's pro bono time? Does the firm create a pro bono budget? Understanding your law firm partner's pro bono policies can provide you with valuable insight into the nature and limits of the pro bono support that you can expect.
6. Encourage your law firm partner to use pro bono work as a means for training and mentoring its junior attorneys and summer associates.
Pro bono projects can be excellent training grounds for a firm's junior attorneys. You should actively encourage your law firm partner to include junior attorneys when staffing your projects. Both inside and outside of pro bono projects, give the junior attorneys the opportunity to practice skills with greater independence. For instance, you can let a junior associate provide training to your staff, or, when appropriate, be the lead negotiator on a deal or first chair in litigation. When you work with junior attorneys, make sure to praise their strengths to their supervisors and provide the attorneys with suggestions for opportunities for improvement in private. By serving as an informal mentor for a junior attorney, you can cultivate yet another ally within the firm.
Remember that firms are often looking for assignments for their summer associates. Although many firms have cut back dramatically on summer programs, firms generally like to showcase their pro bono work to law students. Take the time to identify projects that can be assigned to law students. Remember that because summer associates require greater supervision, you will need a longer lead time for these projects. Also, because summer associate time is likely to be more scarce in the current environment, you should get your requests for these projects into the firm before the summer program starts.
7. Encourage the participation of your law firm partner's various practice groups and non-attorneys.
Corporate and transactional support is often overlooked in pro bono requests, but it should not be forgotten. Lawyers in these areas are often looking for opportunities for pro bono work and their expertise can be a tremendous asset. Become familiar with your law firm partner's practice groups and encourage their participation in your pro bono projects.
You should keep in mind that a firm's non-attorney professionals might also be able to contribute to your pro bono projects. Think about ways in which paralegals, librarians, policy analysts or legal assistants can support the firm's pro bono representation of your organization. Remember to always respect non-attorney professionals in their own right and make sure to recognize their contributions. Remind your law firm partner that pro bono participation by non-attorney professionals can help support an atmosphere of team cohesion and professional respect within the firm.
8. If your organization does work outside of the United States, utilize pro bono resources for international projects.
If your organization does work abroad, you should become familiar with available resources for pro bono assistance for international projects.
U.S. firms, both large and small, often support their partner organization's work abroad, otherwise known as "cross border" international pro bono representation. For instance, preparing and submitting filings to the government of another country to permit your organization to do work in that country.
Certain matters, however, are better suited for representation by counsel located in the country where the organization is conducting its work, otherwise known as "domestic" international pro bono representation. For instance, a non-profit that provides legal representation for individuals in non-U.S. countries may seek the assistance of a law firm in that country to represent such an individual in court. Typically, only large law firms are able to provide domestic international pro bono assistance, either by maintaining an office in the country in question or having an attorney who is licensed to practice law in such country. However, there are other avenues for obtaining domestic international pro bono assistance, such as through international pro bono clearinghouses and initiatives established to provide this type of pro bono representation.1
When seeking to obtain domestic pro bono assistance, you should pay careful attention to the nature and scope of the representation being provided by the law firm. For instance, will the pro bono law firm partner represent your organization or the recipient of your organization's services? Does your organization want to hand over litigation to the partner law firm or does it want to stay on as co-counsel? You should also be mindful that there are barriers to providing pro bono representation in certain countries, ranging from public mistrust of pro bono services in general to outright bans on providing certain types of pro bono services.2
9. Be a good steward of the relationship.
Like any other outside counsel relationship, a relationship with pro bono counsel needs to be managed and cultivated. If not assigned, it is important to ask for a relationship manager within the firm. This relationship manager, who ideally is also the internal champion, will help foster a positive relationship. You should arrange for regular check-ins with this manager to ensure that both sides are content with the relationship.
In addition, as in-house counsel, you should manage the lines of communication between your staff and your law firm partner. For instance, if members of your staff begin to view the law firm's pro bono support as a "free" resource, they might start contacting firm lawyers directly, asking them to do projects. This could put firm lawyers, especially junior lawyers, in an awkward position and may divert your pro bono resources away from projects you consider to be more critical. Further, if a firm attorney or member of the firm's staff has a negative experience with a member of your staff, then you need to promptly investigate the matter and take appropriate measures to remedy the situation or otherwise try to smooth out the relationship.
10. Publically recognize your law firm partner's contributions and remember to say "thank you" early and often.
In building a successful pro bono relationships, it is imperative to recognize the valuable contributions of your law firm partner. Providing the firm with public recognition can go a long way towards making sure the firm feels good about the relationship. For instance:
- At organization events, remember to give public recognition for the firm's work. Give annual awards for major pro bono contributions. Recognize the law firm in press releases. Help the firm place stories about their pro bono projects in local press and legal publications.
As law firms can also benefit from networking opportunities created through pro bono work, create opportunities for members of your pro bono team to meet with others who are committed to your organization. For example, invite them to receptions with your board members or donors. These connections could have potential long-term value for the firm.
Finally, always remember to say "thank you."
Keeping these suggestions in mind will help you to build and maintain successful relationships with pro bono counsel who can provide valuable assistance and contribute otherwise unaffordable outside guidance to your organization. Although building and managing of these relationships may involve a great deal of work, with proper planning they will certainly be worth the investment.
The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Human Rights Campaign or the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
1 As one of its core programs, the Public Interest Law Institute (PILI) promotes international pro bono work and establishes clearinghouses for such work. A list of resources can be found on PILI's website (http://www.pili.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=258&Itemid=164). Additional information and resources are available on the international pro bono website of the International Bar Association (http://www.internationalprobono.com). In addition, The Thomas Reuters Foundation is in the process of creating TrustLaw, which will be an online resource for international pro bono assistance and information (http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/membership/trustlaw.html).
2 Prior to engaging pro bono counsel outside the U.S., you should consult counsel or an international pro bono organization, such as PILI, regarding pro bono practice in the country in question.