Pro bono requirement needs details but garners support

One week after the state”™s chief justice announced that prospective lawyers would be required to complete 50 hours of pro bono work before being able to practice in New York, universities and the New York State Bar Association were still seeking details.
But representatives of the state Unified Court System said they were unlikely to have additional information about the new requirement before the fall, adding that it would not apply to this year”™s graduates.
Chief Justice Jonathan Lippman announced the policy as part of a May 1 speech at the state Court of Appeals in Albany to mark Law Day.
“The critical need for legal services for the poor, the working poor, and what has recently been described as the near poor could not be more evident,” Lippman said, according to a transcript.
He said a recent task force estimated the state is only meeting 20 percent of the civil legal services needs of New York state”™s low-income residents.
Increased state funding for the judicial branch is important and necessary, Lippman said, but not enough. “We need the continued individual efforts of lawyers doing their part,” he said.
With roughly 10,000 prospective lawyers passing the state bar exam each year, the new requirement of 50 hours of pro bono work would result in 500,000 hours of free legal services annually for the needy.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman strongly endorsed Lippman”™s proposal.
A spokesman for the judiciary said the administrative board of the courts would work with the state”™s law schools to provide the framework for the new policy.
Any new requirement would have to be approved by the administrative board.
Jennifer Friedman, director of the Public Interest Law Center at Pace Law School in White Plains, said the school supports the need for increased legal services for the poor.
“We at Pace respect and admire Judge Lippman and we value the importance of pro bono, which is an ethical responsibility of an attorney,” she said. “He”™s embracing that ethic and we support it.”
The New York State Bar Association has not yet taken an official position on the announcement and is currently asking its members for feedback, a spokesman said.