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Law firms see decrease in pro bono hours

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//July 26, 2011//

Law firms see decrease in pro bono hours

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//July 26, 2011//

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Andrew Monfre went out on loan for six months almost immediately after he joined the Milwaukee office of Quarles & Brady LLP last year.

During that time, the 2009 Marquette Law School graduate spent about 15 hours per week providing free legal advice to people visiting the Milwaukee Justice Center inside the Milwaukee County Courthouse. As a new health care law associate, Monfre had the time and encouragement from his employer to dedicate his time to pro bono work.

But once the six-month term ended and the economy began to rebound, his billable-hour workload increased and his free legal service shrank.

“It had been twice a week,” Monfre said, “and now it’s twice a month.”

His workload shift matches a larger change within Quarles & Brady. The firm provided 27,959 hours in 2009, compared to 25,139 last year, said Mike Gonring, the firm’s national pro bono coordinator.

“I think we will continue to see that drop,” Gonring said. “I’m pretty sure we won’t hit the 25,000 hour mark this year.”

He attributed the dip to the availability of more billable work for associates who joined the firm when work was in short supply. Gonring said Quarles didn’t lay off lawyers during the recession and that left plenty of time for many to stock up on pro bono experience, especially because the firm counts those hours toward billable-hour requirements for associates.

But he acknowledged the reality for young associates, who do the vast majority of pro bono work, is that once paying work becomes available, they often take all they can to jump-start their practice.

“Associates don’t want to get left behind in career development,” Gonring said, “and are accepting any billable-hour opportunities they can get.”

Bud Bobber, former Foley & Lardner Pro Bono Committee member, agreed. He said in a competitive legal job market, associates want to make sure they have satisfied all of their firm-based client needs before rounding out their practice with pro bono work.

“I think it is inevitably true across the board that first and second year lawyers are really hungry for the work,” said Bobber, of the firm’s Milwaukee office. “They got their law degrees, and gosh darn it, they want to help somebody.”

Ed Baxa, chairman of Foley’s National Pro Bono Committee, offered another explanation for the general decline in pro bono hours: Firms just haven’t hired as many associates during the recession. Fewer hires leaves a gap in pro bono hours because new employees typically account for the bulk of pro bono hours accumulated by large firms, said Baxa, who is based in Orlando.

Foley automatically counts a new employee’s first 100 hours of pro bono work toward billable requirements, and firm associates can earn credit for even more hours, Bobber said.

The ability to count pro bono hours as billable is an incentive, Monfre said, and that is one reason he continues to find time to volunteer at the Justice Center. But he acknowledged his increasing responsibility and workload with firm clients takes precedence over the desire to provide free legal service.

“It’s really a two-sided coin,” Monfre said. “If I’m doing 1,200 pro bono hours a year, the firm might think it’s subsidizing a public interest attorney here.”

Jack Zemlicka can be reached at [email protected].

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