“Those are all being internally discussed,” said Guy Collier, chairman of McDermott Will & Emery’s pro bono and community service committee and a partner in the firm’s health care group. “It hasn’t quite crystallized yet. One of the things we’re assessing is how interested retiring lawyers will be once they leave partnerships. We’re having those discussions with folks who may be candidates.”
Sending senior attorneys down a more formalized pro bono path means more order and structure in pairing experienced litigators with pro bono issues they’re best suited for, said Mike Naeve, partner in charge of Skadden’s District office. Several Skadden lawyers are representing Alex Blueford, a jailed Arkansas man, in a double jeopardy case heading to the U.S. Supreme Court next year. At issue is whether Blueford, charged with killing his girlfriend’s baby years ago, can be tried twice for the same crime.
(Jeffrey MacMillan/Capital Business) - Skadden partner Cliff Sloan and attorneys Geoffrey Wyatt and Sharon Kiel are representing Alex Blueford, a jailed Arkansas man, in a double jeopardy case heading to the U.S. Supreme Court.
(Jeffrey MacMillan/Capital Business) - Taxi driver Nathan Price is working with attorneys from the Akin Gump law firm in D.C.
Both McDermott and Skadden have had “ad hoc” systems for retired or retiring lawyers to do pro bono work, but now are developing more formal internal structures.
More involvement from the law firm community gives the struggling legal services network some much-needed help at a time that the need for legal aid is growing.
Since late 2008, funding for legal assistance in the District has dropped at least $4.5 million, and legal services programs have had to slash the jobs of at least 21 lawyers and 30 paralegals, policy advocates and social workers, according to the most recent published report on how the recession impacts access to justice in the District.
“Because of the economic downturn, more families are living one legal issue away from disaster,” Jess Rosenbaum said. “Having the help of a lawyer when facing foreclosure, unemployment or domestic violence can make the difference between stability and crisis.”
The commission has started a separate initiative to boost law firms’ contributions to legal services: the Raising the Bar Program asks firms to funnel a small percentage of their District office revenue to local legal services providers. It’s the only program of its kind that bases giving on a local office’s revenue, as opposed to per lawyer, Rosenbaum said. So far, 22 District firms (or firms’ District offices) have signed up.
For law firms, keeping senior attorneys around is also a business benefit: it can help ease a longtime client into working with the younger attorneys inheriting their commercial work.
“For any senior partner, especially ones with significant client relationships, as retirement happens, any firm wants to be able to continue that work,” said Phil Horton, head of Arnold & Porter’s pro bono committee. “We make efforts all the time to make sure that as our lawyers slow down or retire, their commercial responsibilities are turned over to other lawyers. That’s a process that should start well before the phase-down to get a younger generation of lawyers involved.”
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