Law for The Poor

2396 FORDHAM LA W REVIEW
[Vol. 78
my own. I like to make sure pro bono is spread out, matched with lawyers'
interests and desire to develop practice skills. '163
Pro bono counsel also described a number of independent monitoring
activities, such as regular meetings with pro bono attorneys and review of
pro bono case budgets, hours, and progress. Troubleshooting client
complaints and managing client-and lawyer--expectations was also part
of the job:
If I think there's a quality issue, I get involved.... Sometimes clients
just have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved or how long it
will take .... Sometimes lawyers can be unrealistic also. They think if
it's an individual client, how complicated can it be? In fact: very
complicated. 164
Another stated, "I've occasionally heard complaints about no follow up. A
lawyer from a provider organization or a client will call and say, 'I can't get
your attorney to get back to me' about the status of the case." 165 One
counsel kept an eye out for trouble and coordinated with the firmwide
quality assurance committee at the first sign:
When things don't go smoothly, [it is mostly because] the case has gone
into an area where the lawyer doesn't know what to do-either
substantively or with respect to client management-as when the client is
taking more resources than the case merits. Many [clients have] mental
health or emotional health issues. For those we have a quality assurance
committee and we ask them what is the best way to proceed ethically. 166
Reassigning cases when lawyers left the firm was another important quality
control issue. One counsel stressed the "whole risk management" issue that
transitions presented:
With pro bono, even though we have a partner supervise every matter, ....
associates take a larger role.., and supervision is much lighter. I'm on a
list of people who get the Human Resources notice when someone leaves.
I generate a list of pro bono matters billed to that attorney and I send a
notice of each matter to the supervisor to be sure that it is covered. For
separation agreements, it is written into the separation agreement that
each attorney has to provide me with a list of pro bono matters and a
transition plan .... If partners leave, there is a similar problem that the
associate is running the case, but unsupervised. 1 67
As that comment suggests, monitoring time records is an important way
for counsel to oversee pro bono representation. In our survey, roughly
fifteen percent of firms (n=9) monitored pro bono cases through their
general client-tracking systems. Such systems allow partners and pro bono
counsel to track how much associates are billing to pro bono cases and to
163. Interview 22 (Sept. 2, 2009).
164. Interview 4 (Aug. 10, 2009).
165. Interview 5 (Aug. 19, 2009).
166. Interview 17 (Aug. 19, 2009).
167. Interview 20, supra note 148.