The business case for maintaining pro bono output when demand is at its peak
by Mat Tinkler, Acting PILCH Executive Director
Keeping good lawyers busy is a challenge for every law firm as they adjust to a changing economy. Firms invest huge resources in attracting and retaining quality staff and a new business cycle will often mean that the work dries up in one practice group to the benefit of another.
The community legal sector has a clear message for law firms in this economic climate: rather than turn to retrenchments and restructures, consider pro bono as a solution.
Commentators in the US were quick to point out that fallout from the turmoil on ‘Wall Street' will be most acutely felt by those living in ‘Main Street'. The analogy applies equally to the Australian legal market, where the top-end grapples with profit margins and excess capacity, while the community legal sector deals with a spike in demand and uncertainty in funding and resources.
Whether via redundancies, relationship breakdowns, spiralling debt, or mortgage foreclosures, in one way or another many people who are unable to afford legal advice will encounter the justice system for the first time as the economy slows. For those at the coal face of social service delivery, this means more work. Services such as the PILCH Homeless Person's Legal Clinic are already observing an increase in demand and expect the trend to continue over the coming months.
At the same time, in an uncertain economy the pro bono budget may be viewed by some law firms with a certain sense of razor-gang zeal. Such an attitude would be misplaced. Not only would it underestimate the value of pro bono to the productivity, efficacy, long term viability and morale of the firm, but it would also abandon those whom pro bono is designed to serve in their greatest time of need.
The business case for pro bono has long been established. Pro bono opportunities through services such as the Homeless Persons' Legal Clinic and community legal centres provide lawyers with experience, responsibility and client interaction that they might never encounter through commercial practice. Meanwhile, firms are increasingly sought out by graduates on the strength of their pro bono programs, and pro bono often shapes the image of firms in the wider community.
Staff turnover is expensive. In the US, law firms have learned from the last downturn in the legal economy following the burst of the tech-bubble in 2001. The American Lawyer magazine recently ranked the pro bono efforts of the nations' major law firms. Among the top 50 firms in the 2007 A-List rankings, none reported scaling back their pro bono policies after the credit crunch. Indeed, several firms increased their pro bono output.
But the use of pro bono as a tool to occupy (and often up-skill) lawyers with excess capacity is underutilised in Australia. Instead of thinking of ways to downsize as the economy slows, only to face the inevitable cost of hiring and training during the upturn, firms could consider incorporating a community legal centre rotation in the graduate program, seconding a senior associate in-house to a community organisation, or taking on a piece of strategic litigation pro bono.
In addition to the cost savings, firms would send a clear message to their staff and the broader community about the firm's values and commitment to social policy, notwithstanding the economic turmoil.
In October, Justice Mark Weinberg of the Victorian Court of Appeal reflected upon the changing motivators for young lawyers entering the profession. His Honour observed a ‘powerful commitment to pro bono work' among young lawyers and a ‘move away from obsessions with billable hours and rising to partner in law firms'.
His Honour went on to state that the ‘era of lawyers seeing themselves as predominantly part of big business is coming to an end'.
If Justice Weinberg is right, then the case for pro bono in an uncertain economy is simple. Curtail pro bono and firms will loose their best and brightest, particularly if challenging and engaging work is already thinly spread.
Looking for innovative pro bono opportunities, on the other hand, will secure stability and profitability in the long-term while ensuring that the public interest is best served when demand for pro bono is at its peak.