Commentary: How does Pro Bono help attorneys?

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In my last two columns, I criticized the State Bar of Wisconsin Family Law Section and the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers for failing to weigh in on the significant applications of two appellate cases in our area of law, even though they were not primarily family law cases.

In both instances, neither organization sought to file an amicus brief or even seemed to be aware of the cases or their potential implications. One lawyer, active in both organizations, took me to task for my comments, asking why I was “publicly flogging my colleagues” instead of making positive suggestions.

He and I have collegially agreed to disagree, but the discussion got me thinking about what bar associations can do to better serve their members.

My next two columns will address that concern.

For starters, I’m not the only one questioning the activities – or inactivity – of bar associations.

The fact that three of the four last elections for president-elect of the State Bar of Wisconsin have resulted in a majority of the voters choosing the voluntary bar candidate speaks for itself.

But also, more recently, in a column in this paper entitled “State Bar is Squandering Dues Again,” (WLJ, Aug. 20, 2009) David Ziemer took the State Bar to task for spending its members dues on developing a logo and a slogan.

Ziemer had trouble figuring out how the logo and slogan “will enable the Bar to provide better service to Wisconsin attorneys.”

The purpose of my comments (and I suspect those of David as well) was not to “flog” anyone for the purpose of flogging – either the volunteer attorneys in leadership positions or staff members – but rather, to pose the larger question of whether these associations are providing valuable services to us, their members.

The cost of ‘free’ legal services

While bar associations have many purposes, such as aiding courts in the administration of justice, a central purpose is to help lawyers make a living.

The economic downturn has not bypassed lawyers. People are still getting divorced, but getting paid is more of a challenge. Yet instead of helping lawyers make a living, bar associations seem to be doing the opposite.

Consider that the Waukesha County Bar Association sponsors a free “Self Help Center,” which, among other services, provides instructions for people to represent themselves in a divorce. Also, its Family Legal Clinic offers 20 minutes of free legal advice with a family law attorney. Yet, “clients” of the clinic have told me that the appointments sometimes go far beyond 20 minutes and simple legal information.

Similarly, the Milwaukee Bar Association, with great fanfare, has opened a “Justice Center,” paid for and staffed by lawyers.

I support legal services for the poor and working poor. Yet in both instances, the people coming for legal services are not means-tested. That means that rich people can get free legal services. No kidding. While many – perhaps most – of the “clients” utilizing such services undoubtedly cannot afford any meaningful amount of legal services, others will be pleased to take for free what they would otherwise have to pay for.

It’s as if the American Medical Association paid for and provided doctors to staff a medical clinic in River Hills that provides free medical care, regardless of need.

In the “Chair’s message” for the Wisconsin Journal of Family Law, the section chair has been exhorting lawyers to do more pro bono work. Certainly, doing pro bono work is praiseworthy. But, how does the work benefit the profession that is supposed to be served by the section? Good P.R. for lawyers? Perhaps, but given the perception of lawyers in society (and divorce lawyers in particular), it doesn’t seem to have done much good.

Interestingly, most doctors seem to provide few, if any, free services. Yet, their public image far exceeds that of lawyers. www.gallup.com/poll/112264/Nurses-Shine-While-Bankers-Slump-Ethics-Ratings.aspx

Perhaps by promoting that we give away our services for free, we are also promoting what we think our services are worth.

This is not to say that there should not be free legal clinics or that lawyers should not be encouraged to do pro bono. However, bar associations should not be asking its members to give their services away for free to people who can afford to pay. This dilutes the services available to those who can’t afford to pay, and takes money out of the pockets of the associations’ own members.

Is that really their purpose?