Making the Pro Bono Connection

Pro bono work is a great way to build skills while giving back to the community. But how do young lawyers get involved and balance that work with their billable obligations? Pamela Kovacs, who received the Young Lawyers-CBA Pro Bono Award for her work in establishing the Regina Free Legal Clinic, has some tips..

Pro bono work is a great way to build skills while giving back to the community. But how do young lawyers get involved and balance that work with their billable obligations? Pamela Kovacs, who received the Young Lawyers-CBA Pro Bono Award for her work in establishing the Regina Free Legal Clinic, has some tips.

Start early:

                        “I've always volunteered in one capacity or another and it was just a natural progression for me to continue volunteering when I entered law school. During my first year I volunteered with the Pro Bono Students Canada program and then co-ordinated the program during my second and third years of law school.

                        One of the programs we were able to get up and running was student participation in a free legal clinic. Eventually, we transitioned to law students providing administrative support for the clinic and it translated into assisting with the start-up of a free legal clinic in Regina when I moved there to article after law school. I volunteered weekly at the clinic and slowly recruited other lawyers to volunteer[…]

The short answer to the question is I became involved by simply signing up for that first pro bono program in law school and then I just never stopped saying yes to pro bono opportunities.”

Make your commitment known

                      “I was an associate [at McKercher LLP in Regina] for several years before transitioning into my current position. During my articling interview, I was very upfront about my involvement with pro bono activities during law school and indicated that I intended to continue helping out with the free legal clinic in Regina. Certainly, no one objected and I fully involved all of the other associates at the firm in the free legal clinic. Soon, it wasn’t uncommon for us to be regularly talking about free legal clinic files at firm drinks on Friday afternoons. […] One of the firm’s partners also started volunteering at the clinic.

                    I should mention though that I also worked hard and had really good billable hours during these years. I managed, recorded and structured my pro bono work. My non-billable hours were through the roof but my billable hours were also really strong and the firm benefited from my and the other associates pro bono efforts.”

Build support in the firm

                    “I pitched the idea of a pro bono policy to my firm which would recognize a capped number of pro bono hours as billable. They did implement the policy while I was at the firm […] They,along with other law firms in Saskatchewan, have recently implemented a policy to record 50 hours per lawyer of pro bono work as billable annually.

                   This resulted from the […] recognition that there are many benefits to engaging in pro bono legal services. Just to name a few: early client contact, skill development and the ability to choose areas of law that you might not normally get to assist with. […]

                   The firm received positive name recognition and marketing. As associates, we developed rapport and had some volunteering at the free legal clinic and we openly talked about our learning experiences and the benefits we are getting as young associates for volunteering at the clinic. This included talking about the hard or difficult clients and developing skills to deal more effectively with similar situations the next time around.”

Make connections

                  ‘If you live in a jurisdiction with a pro bono law organization such as British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario or now Quebec as well, finding a pro bono program that matches your interests and available time commitments should be no problem at all. Each of these organizations has a full menu of volunteer opportunities. New projects are always being developed and you can simply get in touch with the executive director of any of these groups or sign up using their online forms. […]

                 If you leave in a jurisdiction where there is not yet a pro bono organization, there are numerous sample programs and precedents. The CBA website has a number of resources [cba.org/CBA/groups/probono/resources.aspx] and any of the organized pro bono groups would also be more than happy to assist.

                 I think mentors can be really invaluable and I certainly have had several myself. From a practical perspective, I think it also makes sense to match your available time and preferred style of work to your pro bono work. A free legal clinic can be the perfect commitment for someone looking for a regular monthly or bi-monthly pro bono opportunity. For someone who prefers receiving phone calls on specific issues in their area of expertise, a roster or panel program might be preferable. And a community partnership would be a good fit for someone who prefers to volunteer lots of time over several months.[…]

I’m also a really big fan of everyone doing their best and sharing the delivery of pro bono legal services across the profession. Young lawyers have the opportunity and the ability to save the future of the legal profession and to promote confidence in our legal system or, at the same time, building really successful careers.”

This is an edited version of a podcast available on cba.org/CBA/YoungLawyers
/Main/podcasts.aspx. Sarah Klinger, a past chair of Young Lawyers-CBA, spoke with Pamela Kovacs, former chair of the CBA’s national pro bono committee and past executive director of Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan.

– Published in National Magazine's 2011 Student Edition.