Also known as: pro bono
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A Latin phrase meaning for the public good. It denotes legal services that a lawyer renders without fee or expectation of fee to persons of limited means or to organizations pursuing public causes.
Philip Powell represents an indigent client through a nonprofit legal services organization in a wage dispute. After the complaint is filed the client faces eviction and lacks funds for food. Philip pays the overdue rent and provides a modest sum for groceries so the client can remain housed and participate in discovery.
Piper Patel, an out-of-state lawyer, applies for admission to the bar of State A. The state board denies the application on the ground that nonresidents will not perform pro bono work for local clients. The denial rests solely on that speculative concern without evidence of actual unavailability or misconduct.
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Priscilla Parks maintains a full-time practice and sets aside time each year to handle cases for clients who cannot afford counsel. She tracks her hours and aims to reach the professional target of fifty hours of uncompensated service to persons of limited means.
Model Rule 6.1 states that every lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay and should aspire to render at least fifty hours of pro bono publico legal services per year. The rule uses aspirational language rather than a disciplinary command.
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Under Model Rule 1.8(e)(3) a lawyer representing an indigent client pro bono through a nonprofit legal services organization or law school program may provide modest gifts for food, rent, transportation, medicine, and other basic living expenses. The lawyer must not promise the gifts before retention, seek reimbursement, or use them as an inducement.
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The Supreme Court has held that state residency requirements for bar admission violate the Privileges and Immunities Clause when they rest on the speculative assumption that nonresidents will not keep abreast of local rules, behave honestly, or perform pro bono work.
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Historical sources trace the expectation that lawyers will furnish services without compensation to economically disadvantaged persons back to medieval times, when it was viewed as a mark of professional superiority over other craftsmen.
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