Public service: Promoting pro bono and reduced fee services in the community

Author(s):  
Rodney R. Baker
Keyword(s):  
2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Paul McKeown

<p>In England and Wales, there is an increasing need for the provision of pro bono legal services.  Law students may be a resource that can help fill the access to justice gap, whilst at university and onwards in their future careers.  Whilst some students are intrinsically motivated towards altruistic behaviour, many are not.  This article will consider what motivates students to undertake pro bono work whilst at law school.</p><p>The article will explore the range of intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors for student participation in pro bono programmes and consider how students can be encouraged to engage in such activities.  The article will also consider whether exposure to pro bono experience can instil a public service ethos in students.</p>In conclusion, the article will highlight experience as an influential factor in encouraging initial participation in pro bono work but also instilling a willingness to undertake pro bono work in the future.


1981 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Barlow F. Christensen

Lawyers have a pro bono publico obligation, arising both from the profession ‘s tradition of service before gain and from the lawyer's essential and monopolistic position in the justice system. The appropriate measure of this obligation is the reasonable capacity of the profession to provide public service, a standard that can be met only if all lawyers are involved in the effort. While volunteerism has some values that might be impaired by a mandatory system of pro bono service, only a mandatory system gives promise of involving all lawyers in the discharge of this fundamental professional obligation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-198
Author(s):  
Lynette Osiemo ◽  
Anton Kok

AbstractThe taskforce appointed in 2016 to undertake a review of the legal sector in Kenya highlighted a decline in public service and pro bono work as one of the challenges facing the legal profession in the country. In its report, the taskforce made several proposals to tackle the problem, all directed at qualified lawyers. This article seeks to contribute to the deliberations anticipated from the findings of the taskforce, by suggesting instead that the problem of a declining public service ethic be addressed by targeting law students. Bringing students face to face with real clients and their needs can play an important role in broadening their horizons and shaping their beliefs about, and attitudes towards, the different possible careers they can pursue with their education. The article specifically recommends clinical legal education as a practical and comprehensive means by which students can be encouraged from early on to have an interest in pro bono and public service work.


Author(s):  
Natsuko Nicholls ◽  
Jason Owen-Smith

University experts can offer uniquely valuable insights for informing policy based on expertise they develop through research. The application of knowledge through public service is an important and understudied mechanism for translating academic expertise to government and other communities. Today universities encourage researchers to engage in public service, and often they actively provide institutional support to create a culture and environment where such pro bono work is regarded as an important activity by the research community. Yet the question remains as to whether or not a systematic mechanism exists to track, record, and measure the value of university expertise influencing policy within the context of research. We explore a useful but underutilized administrative data source, the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) database, with an eye towards linking the federal service data to other sources in order to measure research impact in a sociopolitical setting. This publicly available dataset contains rich information on federal advisory committees that play an important role in shaping national programs and policies. Each year an average of 900 advisory committees with more than 60,000 members have provided either policy or grant review advice in 40 different issue areas. Our exploratory findings suggest a steady increase of academics in federal service, the different level of federal service contribution by universities, and the association between federal service and university R&D spending. We also discuss the importance of data cleaning when using administrative data for research and data linkage methods when linking federal service data to university research spending records.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 96 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Wesley Patton

<p>This article will analyze contemporary educational psychology in an attempt to: (1) determine whether a sandbox can and/or should be added to the law school curriculum; (2) describe a constructivist learning environment with the goal of providing law students self-selected pro bono publico projects that may help internalize a life-long goal of public service; and, provide an interdisciplinary model that is feasible both in the large university law schools and in small and/or free-standing law schools. The second half of the article will describe my attempts to build a sandbox model into my Legal Policy Clinic.</p>


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