Negotiating Status: Pro Bono Partners and Counsels in Large Law Firms

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Atinuke O. Adediran
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
The Status ◽  
Pro Bono

Law firm pro bono work provides access to justice to low-income people and other vulnerable populations. The professionals that manage pro bono programs are at the forefront of that process. The limited available research on these professionals do not often distinguish lawyers from other managers or theorize about their status vis-à-vis other law firm lawyers. Yet the status of lawyers who are also managers of pro bono programs influences both their identities and the management and provision of legal services and advocacy. Drawing on original demographic and interview data, this article shows how law firm pro bono partners and counsels navigate their ambiguous roles and negotiate their status as lawyers and managers. I find that pro bono partners and counsels navigate their ambiguous roles by striving to be perceived as “real” lawyers, reframe their roles as business generators, conform to the billing culture, and establish a common identity. They also negotiate their titles and office spaces to raise their profiles. Gender inequality influences the negotiation of office spaces and the approval of pro bono matters. These findings have implications for lawyers who manage pro bono programs and the legitimacy of pro bono work.

scholarly journals Recent Developments in the Provision of Pro Bono Legal Services by Attorneys in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Dave Holness
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Legal Service ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Economic Climate ◽  
The Status ◽  
Pro Bono ◽  
Recent Developments

This paper focuses on legal service delivery for the indigent by attorneys in private practice acting pro bono in civil rather than criminal matters.  In this regard there have been and continue to be considerable gaps between the proper access to civil justice imperatives of constitutional South Africa and the status quo which has existed from the advent of a democratic South Africa until the present. Law as a vehicle for necessary positive change in the daily lives of South African residents is pertinently considered within the country’s woefully unequal socio-economic climate. This paper considers the role which pro bono work by private attorneys is playing and should play in promoting a more just and equitable society through proper access to justice. It explores the current position in South Africa as well as the position in selected foreign jurisdictions regarding pro bono services by attorneys in private practice in civil matters. Part of the discussion focuses on the question of whether pro bono work should be voluntary or mandatory. The merits of introducing a pro bono obligation are critically analysed by looking at the effect on both legal practitioners as well as those receiving the pro bono services. Having defined pro bono work, the practical need for pro bono work by lawyers in private practice is highlighted due to the dearth of legal aid in civil matters for indigent South Africans. Possible constitutional imperatives for the provision of free legal services in civil matters are highlighted. An important part of the paper is a reflection on some of the pro bono work being conducted by private firms of attorneys.  The paper concludes with suggestions on means for establishing a more effective pro bono system in South Africa.

Knowledge Management in Law Firms

2011 ◽  
pp. 1818-1840
Author(s):  
Petter Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Social Community ◽  
The Creation

Law enforcement is of concern to law firms. A law firm can be understood as a social community specializing in the speed and efficiency in the creation and transfer of legal knowledge (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). Many law firms represent large corporate enterprises, organizations, or entrepreneurs with a need for continuous and specialized legal services that can only be supplied by a team of lawyers. The client is a customer of the firm, rather than a particular lawyer. According to Galanter and Palay (1991, p. 5), relationships with clients tend to be enduring:

scholarly journals Corporate Support for Legal Services

Daedalus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-139
Author(s):  
Jo-Ann Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Large Firm ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Legal Aid ◽  
Business Experience ◽  
Pro Bono ◽  
Corporate Support ◽  
Corporate Lawyers ◽  
The Impact

The gap in pro bono legal services provided by corporate legal departments and large private law firms is not surprising: The formalization of pro bono work by large firms has been underway on a significant scale for far longer than it has within corporations. This process has made large firm pro bono efforts more efficient and effective through improved practices. It has also led firm leaders and lawyers generally to expect more volunteerism of this sort. Companies that apply their resources, business experience, or other assets have successfully expanded the impact of their pro bono hours. Because of the scale of this need, and because legal-services lawyers have specialized expertise that corporate lawyers can't easily replicate, corporate pro bono efforts will not, on their own, close the justice gap. But these efforts have the potential to contribute significantly more to the ability of legal-aid organizations to serve their clients, and to help close this gap.

scholarly journals AI-enabled business models in legal services: from traditional law firms to next-generation law companies?

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Armour ◽  
Mari Sako
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Corporate Form ◽  
New Business ◽  
Employee Incentives ◽  
New Business Models

Abstract What will happen to law firms and the legal profession when the use of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes prevalent in legal services? We address this question by considering three related levels of analysis: tasks, business models, and organizations. First, we review AI’s technical capabilities in relation to tasks, to identify contexts where it is likely to replace or augment humans. AI is capable of doing some, but not all, legal tasks better than lawyers and is augmented by multidisciplinary human inputs. Second, we identify new business models for creating value in legal services by applying AI. These differ from law firms’ traditional legal advisory business model, because they require technological (non-human) assets and multidisciplinary human inputs. Third, we analyze the organizational structure that complements the old and new business models: the professional partnership (P2) is well-adapted to delivering the legal advisory business model, but the centralized management, access to outside capital, and employee incentives offered by the corporate form appear better to complement the new AI-enabled business models. Some law firms are experimenting with pursuing new and old business models in parallel. However, differences in complements create conflicts when business models are combined. These conflicts are partially externalized via contracting and segregated and realigned via vertical integration. Our analysis suggests that law firm experimentation with aligning different business models to distinct organizational entities, along with ethical concerns, will affect the extent to which the legal profession will become ‘hybrid professionals’.

scholarly journals Disruptive Innovation Within the Legal Services Ecosystem

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Billings ◽  
Douglas G. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Systems Approach ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Disruptive Technology ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Near Future

Many law firms have done little to address the opportunities and threats presented by potentially disruptive technology (DT), such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that some law firm leaders use to address the potentially detrimental influences of DT on their organizations. The systems approach to management was employed as the conceptual framework. Data were collected from 6 participants at 2 international law firms with offices in California, using semi-structured interviews and organizational artifacts. Data were analyzed using inductive and deductive coding and thematic analysis, resulting in 4 themes: (1) recognizing the legal ecosystem and legal firms are open systems, but organizational subsystems often function as semi-closed systems; (2) acknowledging that while DT represents the most significant potential challenge in the near future, the immediate challenge is improving technology, which requires organizational adjustments; (3) recognizing the need for firms to invest more heavily in innovation generation activities; and (4) realizing the need for increased utilization of augmenting technologies, such as AI or ML, to streamline non-advisory outputs. The findings of this study suggest that, while DI may pose a moderate threat, there are also significant advantages to adopting DI as a formal aspect of organizational strategy. The results of this study may contribute to social change by outlining ways in which firms can lower costs to clients while increasing access to legal services for those in underserved communities.

Knowledge Management in Law Firms

2007 ◽  
pp. 252-282
Author(s):  
Petter Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Social Community ◽  
The Creation

Law enforcement is of concern to law firms. A law firm can be understood as a social community specializing in the speed and efficiency in the creation and transfer of legal knowledge (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). Many law firms represent large corporate enterprises, organizations, or entrepreneurs with a need for continuous and specialized legal services that can only be supplied by a team of lawyers. The client is a customer of the firm, rather than a particular lawyer. According to Galanter and Palay (1991, p. 5), relationships with clients tend to be enduring:

The Conceptualisation of Pro Bono in Singapore

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 97-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Whalen-Bridge
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Legal Aid ◽  
Pro Bono ◽  
Over Time

Abstract“Pro bono” is a familiar phrase in North American jurisdictions that generally refers to a lawyer’s provision of free legal services to indigent persons. The phrase “pro bono” has also come to imply a particular approach to a lawyer’s relationship to indigent persons, one that stresses the obligatory as opposed to the charitable nature of the services provided. To what extent has this phrase, and its conceptualisation of a lawyer’s role, been used in Asian jurisdictions? This article examines how one Asian jurisdiction, Singapore, conceptualises a lawyer’s relationship to indigent persons by examining newspaper usage of phrases describing legal services for indigent persons. The article argues that changes in usage over time, from free legal services and legal aid to inclusion of pro bono, coupled with increased discussions of access to justice, represent a shift to a more obligatory concept of indigent legal services. An obligatory conceptualisation potentially exerts greater pressure on lawyers to provide indigent legal services, but can also exert pressure to revise the historical lack of broad-based government funded criminal legal aid in Singapore.

scholarly journals Pro Bono: What's in it for law students? The students' perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Paul McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Student Participation ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Motivating Factors ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Pro Bono

<p>In England and Wales, there is an increasing need for the provision of pro bono legal services.  Law students may be a resource that can help fill the access to justice gap, whilst at university and onwards in their future careers.  Whilst some students are intrinsically motivated towards altruistic behaviour, many are not.  This article will consider what motivates students to undertake pro bono work whilst at law school.</p><p>The article will explore the range of intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors for student participation in pro bono programmes and consider how students can be encouraged to engage in such activities.  The article will also consider whether exposure to pro bono experience can instil a public service ethos in students.</p>In conclusion, the article will highlight experience as an influential factor in encouraging initial participation in pro bono work but also instilling a willingness to undertake pro bono work in the future.

scholarly journals AN ASSESSMENT OF THE FRAMEWORK FOR BUILDING A PRO BONO CULTURE AMONG LEGAL PRACTITIONERS IN NIGERIA

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Ifeanyi Nnadi Henry, Esq. ◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Equal Access ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Pro Bono ◽  
Administrative Framework

Pro bono legal services are professional services rendered by lawyers or other legal experts1 to indigent and disadvantaged litigants in the society for the public good id est, in order to promote a just and equitable society. It is a subset of the principle of equal access to justice and is based on the assumption that the poor requires but cannot access justice because they lack the financial means. Using the doctrinal approach, this discourse assesses the existing legal and administrative framework for pro bono engagement by lawyers in Nigeria with a view to identifying areas of improvement. Having identified possible areas of improvement, recommendations are proffered on legislative and administrative measures towards improving the level of engagement in pro bono legal services by legal practitioners in the country.

State Courts: Enabling Access

Daedalus ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 28-36
Author(s):  
Jonathan Lippman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Task Force ◽  
New York State ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
The State ◽  
State Courts ◽  
State Court ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Legal Services

In New York, millions of civil litigants each year fight for the necessities of life without the aid of a lawyer because they are unable to afford one. While the state courts strive to provide access to justice for all constituents, this ideal becomes a promise unfulfilled due to the lack of available civil legal services for low-income populations. In this essay, I discuss access to justice in the state courts from the perspective of my role as Chief Judge of the State of New York. I examine the enormity of the unmet need in New York and around the country and discuss the measures I have taken as head of the New York State court system to address the crisis. These efforts have resulted in a substantial increase in state funding for civil legal services, the establishment of the Task Force to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services in New York, annual hearings in each of New York's four Judicial Departments, and the development of programs designed to spur the legal community (including law students) to greater involvement in pro bono work.

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