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Pro Bono Activities

The Access to Justice Committee recognizes that an important aspect of the justice community’s
work is the volunteer support by the private bar and coordinated by local pro bono programs. The
Access to Justice Pro Bono Subcommittee annually holds a statewide Pro Bono Coordinating
meeting, bringing together pro bono programs and board members from around the state to define
areas where the LSBA can further assist local pro bono program efforts. Past efforts by the ATJ
Subcommittee to assist the coordinators include conducting online trainings for their pro bono
attorneys, creating the “Do Good, Do Well, Do Pro Bono” campaign to encourage young attorneys
to volunteer, and coordinating a public interest issue of the Louisiana Bar Journal. Other efforts to
encourage new and/or unemployed attorneys to do volunteer work include developing template
presentations which local programs can use to conduct CLE Programs on pro bono, soliciting
judicial support of pro bono through the Louisiana Supreme Court, and continuing to encourage
law firm involvement through development of model pro bono policies.
In an effort to increase pro bono work, attorneys can now gain CLE credit for “uncompensated pro
bono legal representation to an indigent or near-indigent client or clients.” Under an order signed
by Chief Justice Bernette Johnson, attorneys can earn one hour of CLE credit for every five hours
of pro bono representation, up to a maximum of three hours of CLE credit per year. Louisiana
Appleseed volunteer attorneys worked on this project, which was made effective by Louisiana
Supreme Court order on May 1, 2015. Attorneys volunteering with LA.FreeLegalAnswers.org and
the LSBA’s Lawyers and Libraries program are eligible to earn CLE credit through this new rule.

Voluntary Pro Bono Reporting Mechanism

The Access to Justice Committee annually collects statistics on pro bono service, voluntarily
reported by Louisiana State Bar Association members in conjunction with submission of their
annual fee statements through the “Voluntary Pro Bono Reporting” form. Each year, thousands of
volunteer hours of legal services to poor people go unreported by attorneys who think it does not
matter or who think it is self-aggrandizing to report. The ATJ Department collects this information
for two very important reasons. The first is to obtain a more accurate picture of the amount of good
work Louisiana attorneys are doing in their communities. The second is to place a monetary value
on the amount of pro bono legal work provided by Louisiana attorneys each year. Often potential
funders ask how private attorneys are assisting the poor in Louisiana. Through the collection of
this valuable data, the LSBA ATJ Department and civil legal aid programs can provide a definitive
answer – in 2018, attorneys provided approximately 100,000 hours of pro bono legal advice when
valued at $150/hour amounts to $15 million worth of pro bono legal assistance. The “Voluntary
Pro Bono Reporting Form” can be found online at:
www.lsba.org/ATJ/ProBonoVoluntaryReporting.aspx.

LSBA Pro Bono Publico & Children’s Law Awards

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