Why Large Firms Place Increasing Emphasis on Pro Bono

By Ruth Piller, Madison Finch and Mark Trachtenberg


Pro bono (proh boh-noh), adv. & adj. [Latin pro bono publico “for the public good”] Being or involving un-compensated legal services performed esp. for the public good <took the case pro bono> <50 hours of pro bono work each year>.

Black’s Law Dictionary 1220-01 (7th ed. 1999)

There The definition is simple, but the ramifications are not. Many associates struggle with the issue of how to provide pro bono services while keeping billables high. The Houston Lawyer surveyed several of the city’s largest firms on their pro bono policies, asking about the emphasis young lawyers are expected -- and realistically should -- place on the performance of pro bono work. The responses are unequivocal: Pro bono work is an increasingly important part of the practice of law and of the large-firm environment.
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., for example, leaves the choice of specific pro bono projects up to the individual. The firm will approve any pro bono work, but if it requires significant firm resources, the attorney needs specific approval. Significantly, attorneys receive credit for their pro bono hours when merit bonuses are determined.
In Houston, Fulbright & Jaworski attorneys averaged 60 hours each of pro bono work in 2005, up about 10 hours per attorney from the year before. Pro bono opportunities are broadcast throughout the firm and discussed in partner meetings and retreats. About 100 pro bono opportunities arise each year through the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program (HVLP) – in fact, the Houston Bar Foundation in February honored Fulbright & Jaworski for the fifth consecutive year for outstanding contributions to the HVLP by a large firm. In 2005, the firm provided full representation in 68 pro bono cases through HVLP, staffed legal advice clinics and mentored other volunteers.
Fulbright & Jaworski says it begins the emphasis on pro bono early: Senior attorneys meet with associates to encourage pro bono work. In addition, summer associates are told about the firm’s pro bono program. One of the firm’s newest pro bono projects involves obtaining amnesty for minors.
Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. attorneys say pro bono work is institutionalized in the firm. When attorneys power up their computers, their intranet home page displays a link to pro bono opportunities, and pro bono opportunities also are emailed to all attorneys. When bonuses are determined, Vinson & Elkins attorneys receive credit for their pro bono work. Pro bono hours are counted in the same manner as billable hours. That is, pro bono hours are counted as hours billed and collected.
Vinson & Elkins has created a pro bono manual, which includes information on providers of pro bono opportunities. All attorneys, from partners to summer associates, are encouraged to perform pro bono work, although there is no particular target number of pro bono hours. The firm’s attorneys have done significant pro bono work for people seeking asylum and on death penalty appeals.
Like the other large firms, Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP has no mandatory pro bono requirement for attorneys. However, as a firm, Locke Liddell believes pro bono legal aid is a fundamental aspect of the practice of law. Pro bono work is one aspect of practice that is considered when attorneys are evaluated each year.
Locke Liddell encourages its attorneys to participate in pro bono through awareness. The firm routinely sponsors legal clinics at which its attorneys can volunteer. Locke Liddell also is associated with a number of legal aid organizations that provide additional pro bono opportunities. Locke Liddell’s pro bono committee organizes and advertises these opportunities and encourages the firm’s attorneys to participate in them.  
Last year in the Houston office of Baker Botts L.L.P., attorneys spent more than 8,000 hours on pro bono work, a six-fold increase over its Houston office pro bono hours eight years ago.  Much of this increase has been due to regular refinements of the firm’s pro bono policies.  Pro bono hours are treated the same as billable hours for purposes of associate bonuses and reviews, and are considered in partnership determination. The belief is that counting pro bono hours in such a way encourages attorneys to do pro bono work and emphasizes the importance of involvement by Baker Botts lawyers in the community.
The firm says it has built pro bono work into the firm culture, particularly in the last decade. For instance, the firm finds pro bono opportunities for lawyers in all practice areas, including tax, environmental and corporate law. Further, pro bono work is emphasized with summer associates and with first-year lawyers on the day they come to the firm.  Most first-year lawyers have a pro bono case within their first six months at the firm.
Pro bono hours account for about two percent of the firm’s chargeable hours, but Baker Botts hopes to increase that number to three percent with their adoption of the Pro Bono Institute’s standard. (According to its Web site, www.proponents.org, the Pro Bono Institute, which is affiliated with the American Bar Association, “provides support, guidance, training, resources, and inspiration to major law firms, in-house corporate legal departments, and public interest organizations seeking to expand and enhance access to justice for the poor and disadvantaged and promotes effective and productive partnerships among these groups.”) Firms based in New York, District of Columbia and California have adopted the Institute’s standards, and Baker Botts is helping lead the charge in Texas by also adopting this standard, the firm says.
As part of adopting these new PBI standards, Baker Botts is increasing its pro bono firm goals by 50 percent. Within a few years, the goal for the Houston office alone is to reach 13,100 pro bono hours. So far in 2006, the office is averaging more than 1,000 hours of pro bono legal services a month. The firm says these increased goals combined with the creation of the Pro Bono Committee demonstrate in part the firm’s long-term commitment to pro bono legal services.
At Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, pro bono work is treated as billable up to a certain number of hours. If that number of pro bono hours is exceeded, attorneys can request that additional hours be deemed as a billable equivalent; almost all such requests are granted.
Pro bono work is encouraged by example at Bracewell & Giuliani. The managing partner does a significant amount of pro bono work, as do many of the other attorneys. The firm has a written pro bono policy and a pro bono committee. Pro bono work is one of multiple criteria considered in attorney compensation, performance reviews and partnership decisions.
Bracewell & Giuliani’s Houston office does a wide variety of legal work, including pro bono opportunities re-ferred by the HVLP.
Andrews Kurth LLP says it has a policy of self-determination when it comes to pro bono work. The firm presents opportunities to its attorneys, but it is up to individual attorneys to decide whether they want to take on a pro bono project. The firm does not have a written pro bono policy or a pro bono committee, but an attorney who serves as the firm’s pro bono coordinator is responsible for informing attorneys about volunteer opportunities. Although there is no pro bono committee, a group of three to four attorneys approves the opening of each pro bono file, as they do with billable files.
Andrews Kurth takes into account associates’ pro bono hours in overall performance evaluations. The firm does not have a formulaic system for billable hours, so pro bono does not directly figure into compensation decisions. Andrews Kurth attorneys do much of their pro bono work through the HVLP, although the firm recently has taken on a number of death penalty cases referred from other sources.
In 2004, attorneys with Haynes and Boone, L.L.P.’s Houston office worked 8,869 pro bono hours, an average of 37 hours per attorney. Attorneys are required to report their pro bono hours, just as they are required to report their billable hours. The firm says pro bono hours are viewed favorably in performance reviews. In fact, every associate is required to handle a pro bono case upon joining the firm.
Haynes and Boone says the firm’s pro bono commitment is an integral part of its culture. The firm formed a Pro Bono/Public Service Committee in 1989, recognizing that a more focused and organized commitment was desirable and necessary to broaden the pro bono opportunities available to the firm’s lawyers and the range of legal services available to the pro bono clients served by the firm. Since then, the firm’s pro bono efforts have grown.
Among the firm’s pro bono recipients are Justice for Children, the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, criminal defendants in capital habeas corpus proceedings in Texas state and federal courts, the HVLP, and community and nonprofit organizations in need of tax, business and intellectual property advice.

Ruth Piller practices civil appellate and commercial litigation at Hays, McConn, Rice & Pickering, P.C.

Madison Finch is an attorney with the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston.

Mark Trachtenberg is an attorney in the appellate section of Haynes and Boone, L.L.P. All are members of The Houston Lawyer editorial board.

Text is punctuated without italics.

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