Duties to the Public · 2-4% of the exam
22.1.1Voluntary pro bono service (Rule 6.1)
On this page
- Rule 6.1 — Voluntary pro bono service.
Why
Equal access to justice requires lawyers to contribute time to those who cannot pay. People with the least money carry the most legal exposure and the least ability to buy help, and a profession granted a monopoly on that help is asked to close part of the gap itself.
Plain English
Every lawyer should aim to provide at least 50 hours of free or near-free legal services each year. The preferred category is direct service to persons of limited means without fee or expectation of fee.
A substantial majority of the 50 hours belongs in that preferred tier, which also covers work without fee or expectation of fee for charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental and educational organizations in matters designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited means. The benchmark is aspirational, and a lawyer who falls short is not subject to discipline.
Rule
Rule 6.1 — Voluntary pro bono service.
Rule 6.1 — Voluntary pro bono service. Serving people who cannot afford counsel is a professional duty of every attorney. Each lawyer should aim to deliver 50 hours of pro bono legal work each year:
- Preferred tier (a substantial majority of the 50 hours)
work delivered without fee or expectation of fee to:
- persons of limited means; or
- charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental and educational organizations, in matters designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited means — the rule qualifies the matter, not the organization.
- Secondary qualifying work (Rule 6.1(b)) — three routes
- Rule 6.1(b)(1): legal services at no fee or substantially reduced fee to individuals, groups, or organizations securing civil rights, civil liberties, or public rights, or to qualifying organizations in furtherance of their purposes where standard fees would significantly deplete their resources or would otherwise be inappropriate;
- Rule 6.1(b)(2): legal services at a substantially reduced fee to persons of limited means;
- Rule 6.1(b)(3): participation in efforts to improve the law, the legal system, or the profession itself.
Separately, a lawyer should voluntarily contribute financial support to organizations providing legal services to persons of limited means.
The benchmark is aspirational only — a lawyer who falls short is not subject to discipline.
Example 1
Ex. 1
Ben, a tax partner, spends 30 hours volunteering with a bar task force reviewing proposed court rules. No client receives services, no fee is waived, and no person of limited means is helped directly. The task-force hours count as a secondary qualifying activity. But the preferred tier requires a substantial majority of the 50 hours to be no-fee or near-no-fee work delivered directly to persons of limited means or qualifying organizations. The preferred-tier target remains unmet. Because the standard is aspirational, he faces no discipline. Log Ben's 30 hours under secondary qualifying work, then read the preferred-tier line again.
The exam will offer a statement that a lawyer providing no pro bono services is subject to discipline. False. Rule 6.1 creates no enforceable floor. It will also offer reduced-fee representation of a non-poor client as satisfying the preferred tier; it doesn't. Know the 50-hour number. The standard is always aspirational.
Questions · 1
Q 01ch22-e01
Question 1 of 1 · Rule 6.1
Attorney practices patent law and bills every matter at standard rates. Over the past year Attorney spent sixty hours on a bar association working group revising proposed court rules, served on no legal aid panel, and took no unpaid client matters. No person of limited means received services from Attorney, and no fee was waived or reduced for anyone. Attorney's jurisdiction has adopted the professional conduct rules without change. A colleague tells Attorney that the year's record falls well short of the profession's stated pro bono target. Attorney agrees with the arithmetic but answers that nothing in the rules compels the hours. Is Attorney subject to discipline?
Keys 1 to 4 choose.