Bass, Berry & Sims Pro Bono Member David Esquivel wrote an article published in the National Jurist and PreLaw highlighting the value and importance of providing public interest legal work within a private firm setting.
In these publications for students considering a career in law, David emphasized the need for public interest legal work and explained how Bass, Berry & Sims has supported public interest work in a private firm setting. “Traditionally, public interest lawyers work in issue-centered, non-profit legal services organizations,” he points out in the article. However, David encouraged readers to find opportunities outside of these traditional settings and offered some key questions to ask of potential employers about their support of pro bono work, such as:
- Does the law firm provide billable hour credit for associates and compensation credit for partners?
- Does the firm leadership (managing partner, practice group leaders and longtime lawyers) actively support or participate in pro bono work?
- Has the law firm demonstrated a commitment to matters that effect change at a systemic level, measured either by the number of people affected or its importance to an individual person or organization?
“When a law firm supports pro bono work, it makes the entire organization better,” David said. “Everyone in the law firm, including professional staff and lawyers who don’t participate in pro bono work, has a sense of pride and respect for their workplace. And it gives the lawyers who do pro bono work the opportunity to connect to the reasons why many of them went to law school in the first place — not only to enjoy the financial stability and advantages of law practice, but also to use their training to enrich the lives of their neighbors and communities.”
The full article, “How To Be a Public Interest Lawyer in a Private Law Firm,” was published by National Jurist and Pre Law on December 20 and is available online.