Lawyers provide lots of free work

By Jack Wax

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Would it come as a surprise if you found out that lawyers are among the most sincere, generous and kind-hearted members of your community? The popular -- or unpopular -- image of lawyers is that they are greedy, undignified and put their own interests above those of their clients. The problem with this image is that it is based on a caricature, drawn by comedians and script writers. Missing from the comic portrayal of lawyers is any reference to the pro bono (free) work that lawyers provide clients who cannot afford to pay for legal help.

Although many bar associations make it a point to acknowledge lawyers who have become well-known in the legal community for their pro bono work, most lawyers who provide free legal services remain unnoticed and unrecognized. A number of state bar associations have asked their members to voluntarily report how much pro bono work they perform, but few lawyers care to create an official record of their personal practices.

Earlier this year, the Missouri Bar sponsored a research study designed to find out how much time lawyers spend giving out legal advice for free to poor individuals, charity boards and churches. The purpose of this study was not to dig for good news to counter the negative image of lawyers. The Missouri Bar was trying to address a much more serious problem. As with almost every other state, Missouri is facing a steep decline in revenue, and there are almost no state funds for legal services programs. These programs help low-income individuals and families get free legal help for urgent civil legal problems, such as domestic violence, custody problems, and access to health or disability benefits that may have been wrongly denied them. State legislators wanted to know whether lawyers were carrying their fair share of the responsibility for helping the poor with legal problems. So did bar leaders. To find out, the Missouri Bar contracted with a University of Missouri researcher to design and conduct a study that consisted of personal interviews with 100 attorneys, selected as a representative sample of Missouri lawyers.

The study showed that Missouri lawyers average 42 hours a year of pro bono (free) legal help to clients in their community. They also average about 71 hours of free service on charitable boards, and about 27 hours on church boards. Not all lawyers give free legal service, but most Missouri lawyers -- 73 percent -- occasionally work for free.

There is no reason to believe that Missouri lawyers are exceptionally generous with their time in comparison to lawyers in other states. In Florida, where lawyers are required to report how much pro bono service they provide each year, lawyers average 44 hours of free legal help to clients. American Lawyer Media surveyed the nation's top 100 law firms and found that, among the biggest firms, lawyers averaged close to 42 hours of pro bono per year.

Lawyers aren't saints, but the Missouri Bar's research and other evidence reveal a caring and generous aspect of the legal profession. Giving away a week's worth of free legal help to poor clients makes no sense as a business decision. Hours spent volunteering on charitable or church boards could be used for more selfish or profitable activities.

Odd, isn't it? In America, the poor are typically treated without respect. Yet the instant a lawyer agrees to represent a person who cannot afford to pay, that person -- broke or barely getting by from paycheck to paycheck -- becomes someone who must be addressed. Pro bono service is both an acknowledgment of, and a commitment to, the dignity of even the most downtrodden client. As for the lawyers who provide pro bono service, they are earning the legal profession the dignity it deserves -- far out of earshot of any lawyer jokes.

Jack Wax is the media relations director for the Missouri Bar.