Pro Bono Work Can Be Helpful To Law Firms

Many law firms have pro bono programs since they want to perform good work with the skills they obtained through the practice of law.  Indeed, some law firms take the saying “to those much is given, much is expected” and try to pay it forward by performing pro bono work.  However, law firms do not need to be “do gooders” to be interested in pro bono work since pro bono work oftentimes gives junior associates a valuable opportunity to gain practical experience they might not obtain working on typical client matters.

When I was a Biglaw associate, I did not get much courtroom experience or familiarity with litigation tasks from working on client matters. Our law firm would never send me or another junior associate to court to advocate for a client since the firm would most likely send one of the partners. It was even rare for a senior associate to take a deposition at the firm, since partners handled pretty much all of the practical tasks associated with a file. Most of the time, I simply composed research memorandums that were useful when drafting briefs or reviewed documents related to discovery we were producing or had received from the other side.

However, pro bono matters were a completely different story. The firm at which I worked allowed associates to apply a few hundred hours of pro bono work toward their billable-hour requirement. As a result, associates tried to handle pro bono work since the matters were more interesting than typical client work, and it might be easier to find billing opportunities on pro bono files.

This law firm had relationships with a number of nonprofits in our area that kept associates busy with pro bono work.  This included criminal appeals, domestic abuse victims, children in need of defense in asylum cases, and other pet projects that were brought in the door by various partners. During my time as a Biglaw associate, I worked on pretty much every type of pro bono matter handled by the firm.

While handling a criminal law appeal, I had direct client interaction with an individual who was in jail for murder.  While working on typical client matters, I rarely spoke to the clients since the partners spoke to the clients directly and played a game of “telephone” when conveying critical information to associates.  However, I was able to develop essential client-intake skills while communicating with this criminal pro bono client that made me better able to ask questions and synthesize information when working on more typical client matters.

While working on a domestic abuse matter, I had significant involvement in a trial to determine if a child would be returned to one parent or the other. During this process, I attended court each day for about two weeks, and I had to write briefs, conduct research, and engage in client interactions under tight timeframes. I also had to carry all of our exhibits to court, which was no easy task, but that’s beside the point. Even though I had interned for a judge, I never saw trial practice up close from the attorneys’ side of the bench, and I learned valuable lessons related to objections, examinations, presentation of exhibits, and many other parts of the litigation process.

We all know that law school does not do the best job of teaching law students the practical information they need to know to be successful in their legal careers. Since junior associates might not have many opportunities to appear in court and gain practical experience with client matters, their development into independent and reliable lawyers might be delayed if they do not have an outlet to gain practical experience. Pro bono matters can be a perfect way to both give back to the community and give junior associates a chance to learn practical strategies that will assist them when they handle more client work.

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.

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