Even as paid work increases, attorneys keep making time to work for free

They say that if you want something to get done, ask a busy person to do it. Perhaps that explains why, even as the economy improves and paying work starts flowing into law firms once more, lawyers still make time for pro bono service.

Agencies across Missouri that depend on volunteer lawyers say the recovery from the recent recession has not caused the legal community to drop its interest in pro bono work.

“When the economy began to plunge, we were inundated with volunteers because the law firms were trying to keep their attorneys busy,” said Latricia Scott Adams, at Legal Aid of Western Missouri. “But I have to tell you, it’s been a steady climb ever since.”

Adams said her agency is still collecting recent figures for its volunteer efforts, but her sense of a burgeoning pro bono interest appears to be taking place across the state.

Farrah Fite, the spokeswoman for The Missouri Bar, said the number of attorneys who voluntarily reported their pro bono hours increased substantially for 2012. About 600 lawyers reported pro bono hours for the year, she said, while more than 280 lawyers were added to the bar’s Pro Bono Wall of Fame, which honors lawyers who report at least 40 hours of pro bono service. In comparison, 120 lawyers were added to the Wall of Fame in 2011, and 84 were added in 2010.

Sue Greenberg, executive director of St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts, said she has had no trouble getting attorneys to sign up. Part of that is because the group partners with local law schools and law firms. Part of it is because the group’s focus on intellectual property law and transactional matters is a better match for some attorneys than, say, landlord-tenant disputes.

“We don’t even recruit anymore,” Greenberg said. “They just find us.”

Jolie Justus, who directs the pro bono program for Shook, Hardy & Bacon, said volunteer efforts, which the international firm specifically encourages, have been between 25,000 and 30,000 hours firmwide for at least eight years.

She said Shook’s attorneys tend to volunteer when they have time on their hands, particularly as young associates. The habit tends to stick.

“The people that we captured their first year or two in and got them into the regular groove of doing it, they never stop doing pro bono,” Justus said. “They always make sure they have one thing going, even if it’s small, no matter how busy their plate may get. They never seem to stop once they’ve gotten the bug.”

That’s been the experience of Gene Balloun, a partner at Shook who’s been in practice for more than 40 years and has done pro bono work nearly that entire time. He said attorneys who want to volunteer tend to make time for it, whether or not they have a lot of paying clients to handle. After all, not having work is in some ways just as time-consuming as having work.

“If they’re not busy with legal work, they’re going to be busy cultivating clients,” he said.

Of course, the recession isn’t necessarily over for all attorneys.

Jim Guest, who directs the volunteer lawyers program at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, said outside attorneys are still volunteering to take cases at about the same rate. But he has seen a drop in the number of “in-house volunteers” — lawyers, often fresh out of law school, who essentially work as unpaid staff attorneys.

“That has definitely seen a decline,” Guest said. “I’m hoping, for their sake, it’s because more people are finding jobs.”

Guest said that at the height of the recession he had 10 such volunteers. Currently he has just two, but he expects that to rise in a few months.

“The fall is when it really peaks, because people get their bar results back,” he said.

Lou DeFeo, who coordinates the volunteer lawyer effort for Samaritan Center Legal Care in Jefferson City, said many of his volunteers have been young, jobless lawyers who see pro bono not only as a noble thing to do but also as a way to get experience, fill in gaps in their resumes and meet other lawyers.

“It’s a good marketing tool, in my experience, for an attorney looking for a job,” DeFeo said.

Danelle Cord, for instance, graduated from law school in Indiana in 2010 but took the bar exam in Missouri after moving to Jefferson City with her husband. She found some contract work, but she volunteered with the Samaritan Center in part because she wanted to meet people in the local legal community and gain courtroom experience.

“It was a good place to get my feet wet,” she said.

Cord has since started Musick & Cord, a family and juvenile law practice in Jefferson City, but she still volunteers with the Samaritan Center.

“Having built that connection and relationship with that organization encourages me to continue to be involved,” she said.

DeFeo, who also sits on committees of The Missouri Bar and the Missouri Supreme Court that examine pro bono issues, said most lawyers are more than happy to give their time, no matter what’s going on in the economy. The tricky part is figuring out how to match willing lawyers to clients whose legal issues the lawyer is competent to handle.

“The problem isn’t with attorneys; the problem is systemic,” he said. “We don’t have in place a system that will make that match.”

Several agencies said the bad economy has spurred the need for certain types of representation, such as for problems with credit-card debt or bankruptcies. Legal Services of Southern Missouri, for instance, created a new staff position last year to handle such matters.

But Philip Masaoay, LSSM’s pro bono coordinator, said the lion’s share of the organization’s work remains family law matters, which never seem to be in short supply and will probably continue to give volunteer lawyers plenty to do for years to come.

“It’s essentially recession-proof,” he said. “People are going to not get along all the time.”

Staff reporter Donna Walter contributed to this report.