Private Lawyers and the Public Interest:
The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the Legal Profession

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Oxford University Press

Edited by Professor Lynn Mather (with Robert Granfield)

This collection of essays by leading and emerging scholars in the field examines the history, conditions, organization and strategies of pro bono lawyering. Private Lawyers and the Public Interest traces the rise and impact of the American Bar Association’s campaign to hold lawyers accountable for a commitment to public service and to encourage public service within law schools. Combining empirical legal research with reflections by practitioners and theorists about the meaning and practice of pro bono legal work, these essays examine the public service ideals of the legal profession and place these ideals within a broader social, economic and ideological context. These essays investigate the evolving role of pro bono in the legal profession and in law schools, the relationship between pro bono ideals and pro bono in practice, the way that pro bono is shaped by external forces beyond the individual practitioner, and the multifaceted nature of legal professionalism as expressed through pro bono practice.

Features

• Examines lawyers' perspectives on pro bono in relation to professional ideals, the marketplace for legal service, professional hierarchy, and civic engagement
• Discusses the meaning of pro bono within the realm of professionalism and demonstrates variation by organizational contexts and practice environments
• Poses broader questions about pro bono and the extent to which it serves the public interest
• Explores trends in pro bono activities within American law schools and the connection between pro bono work and social change