Law for The Poor

2426 FORDHAM LA W REVIEW
[Vol. 78
In addressing broader questions about the role of pro bono counsel, some
survey respondents expressed concerns about arrangements that could
undercut their internal power and also undermine the legitimacy of the
-position in the broader law firm community. For example, one pro bono
counsel believed that having "timekeeper" status was critical. 391 Her hours
had to count in ways analogous to partnership-track attorneys in order to
ensure her own credibility. 392 This status was important not just in terms of
her influence within the firm, but also for the broader message it sent about
the importance of the position in law firms generally.
The role of pro bono counsel is a brand new point of contact, and we are
only as good as the weakest link. If someone is acting like a secretary,
she is hurting everyone in the entire job. That person's law firm talks to
others and says, "We have a girl who does that." Then firms think there is
no reason [pro bono counsel] has to be a lawyer who thinks about social
justice issues. It can be done on the cheap, not at a first class level....
Firms will say, "Look... they are doing it better because they are getting
recognition taking the easy road." '393
B. The Functional Relationship of Pro Bono to the Firm
1. Pro Bono and Training
One view of pro bono work casts it as an expression of professional
responsibility: a way for private lawyers to serve the public while pursuing
the goals of commercial practice. In this sense, the commitment to social
justice stands less as a check on commercialism than a supplement to it; pro
bono work occupies a sphere distinct from lawyers' daily corporate
practice. 394 The institutionalization of pro bono programs, however, has
blurred the line between paid and nonpaid work; the training, recruitment,
and reputational functions of pro bono service are increasingly integrated
into the economic framework of large law firms. 395 Nowhere is this more
evident than in the growing linkages between large-firm pro bono and
career development programs. 396 The formality of this linkage between pro
bono and training varied, but its importance was clearly apparent in
virtually all firms.
At the most formal end of the spectrum was the firm, described above,
that had revamped its first- and second-year associate program to require a
substantial pro bono commitment linked to skills development. 397 To
391. Interview 27, supra note 81.
392. Id.
393. Id.
394. Russell G. Pearce, Lawyers as America's Governing Class: The Formation and
Dissolution of the Original Understanding of the American Lawyer's Role, 8 U. CHI. L. ScH.
ROUNDTABLE 381, 420 (2001).
395. See Dinovitzer & Garth, supra note 378, at 115 (referring to pro bono as a possible
strategy of "demand creation" for law firms).
396. See Daniels & Martin, supra note 4, at 154-55.
397. See supra note 351 and accompanying text.