Bankruptcy Firms Provide Pro Bono Services –
Sometimes on the Spot

By Ann Zeigler

The Houston Lawyer conducted a random check of mid-size and small firms that have bankruptcy practices. We asked about their firm policies on accepting pro bono cases or participating in the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program. Not one of the bankruptcy firms had a formal written policy concerning pro bono bankruptcy representation, but each firm confirmed that lawyers do, and are expected to do, pro bono representations on a regular basis. Several firms have established client/matter numbers for the attorney to track time on these volunteer matters. Others consider it to be a general function of firm development or individual practice development. But all the firms contacted assume that volunteer representation is a part of a bankruptcy firm’s reality, and they make room for it one way or another in evaluating lawyers’ billables.
The tradition of “involuntary pro bono” representation is an accepted part of the practice at Houston’s bankruptcy firms. For instance, it is not unexpected for a bankruptcy judge to select experienced attorneys who happen to be at a docket call to take inexperienced lawyers or pro se debtors out in the hall to explain bankruptcy concepts. This occurs where it appears to the court that something is going drastically wrong with a case. It can be due to a non-bankruptcy lawyer’s lack of understanding of a critical concept at a level that amounts to potential malpractice. Or it can be due to a pro se debtor being improperly targeted by a creditor on purely procedural grounds. The trip to the attorney lounge with the “temporary client” in tow is the same for any lawyer who has been pulled out of the benches: Perform a very quick piece of pro bono work, help the non-bankruptcy lawyer or pro se debtor understand the concept and required procedure. Then dash back to the proceeding that brought the senior attorney to the courthouse in the first place.
Houston’s bankruptcy bar has a long and proud tradition of encouraging pro bono representation at both individual and firm levels. They don’t expect it to change any time soon.

Ann Zeigler practices in the bankruptcy section of HughesWattersAskanase in Houston and is a member of the editorial board of The Houston Lawyer.

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