"Service is the rent we pay for living. It is not something to do in your spare time; it is the very purpose of life."
-Marion Wright Edelman, founder, Children's Defense Fund

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Pro Bono, Access to Justice Top New PBA President's Agenda
Newly installed PBA President Forest N. Myers spoke about the importance of pro bono service at the PBA/PBI "Spring Into Pro Bono" Conference on May 14, 2013. Myers' leadership on access to justice was to be center stage later in May as low-income Pennsylvanians and the lawyers who help them testify along with community and business leaders and judges at the second of three Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee public hearings on civil legal representation of the indigent in Philadelphia, May 23. Read more about the hearings and the PBA's participation in the broad-based "Civil Legal Justice Coalition" created to work collaboratively on exploring strategies to improve access to justice.

2013 marks 50th anniversary of the landmark Gideon v. Wainwright decision establishing the right to counsel for the indigent in criminal matters. Although advocates in the field of criminal justice know we still have more work to do in this area, we have much more to do on the civil side where no such Gideon type right has been broadly recognized. Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Ronald D. Castille issued an April 2013 letter ( calling on all Pennsylvania lawyers to volunteer to help the neediest among us. Read the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Court's news release. In his letter the Castille notes that the Pennsylvania Bar Association has been the court's partner in supporting civil legal aid in a variety of ways, from providing new avenues for funding to setting up a loan forgiveness program for legal services practitioners. Every lawyer in Pennsylvania contributed $35 in 2012 to civil legal aid through the IOLTA portion of their annual licensing fee, but it is the volunteer efforts - whether in direct representation of clients or further financial support - beyond that mandatory payment that matter most. The Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, in partnership with regional legal aid providers and a network of specialty legal aid programs, helps provide the framework and structure for legal assistance for the poor. Pro bono volunteers, encouraged by the PBA and local bars, provide time and financial contributions to help fuel the important work of representing those clients who have critical needs but cannot afford to retain private counsel. Our law schools inculcate the values of pro bono service in the next generation of Pennsylvania lawyers.

The Pennsylvania Bar Association's Pro Bono Office assists local bar associations, legal services programs and other groups who offer pro bono legal services across the commonwealth to expand the access to justice for the neediest among us. The Pro Bono Office also provides direct legal help to those in need, from the poor to veterans. The links above will connect you to specific information available here among the PBA pro bono Web pages. Go to PALawHELP.org if you are a client seeking pro bono services; lawyers and judges interested in pro bono should check out PAProbono.net. Click here for our partners at the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono & Public Service. Click here for Pennsylvania county pro bono programs. For all pro bono questions, email PBA Pro Bono Coordinator David Keller Trevaskis at david.trevaskis@pabar.org or call him on his cell at (717) 571-7414.

Trevaskis has served as the PBA's first full-time pro bono attorney since 2001. In the 12 years since then some impressive numbers have been posted through the PBA's in-house pro bono efforts, including outreach that has touched almost 60,000 people with legal aid issues; more than 400 individuals and organizations being honored with pro bono awards; nearly 250 CLE programs having been conducted locally, regionally and across the state; and the securing of more than $500,000 in direct and in-kind support. Add in nearly three-quarters-of-a-million miles of travel and there has been a lot of activity out of an office that is staffed by a single full-time attorney and a half-time administrative assistant.

Although there was pro bono activity sponsored by the PBA prior to the October 2001[1], with the hiring of attorney Trevaskis as the PBA's first full-time pro bono coordinator pro bono received an increased emphasis at the PBA, with the formal creation, staffing and budgeting of a Pro Bono Office. The office was created to meet the crisis of unmet civil legal needs among the poor in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation. The defining principle of our legal system is the promise of equal justice under law for all, yet, despite all of the efforts of the PBA and the thousands of lawyers and judges statewide who take pro bono cases and support legal aid, far too many of the poor and near poor never have the opportunity even to talk to an attorney while handling legal concerns.[2]

There is some type of pro bono activity in every county in the state; each county's approach to pro bono is unique. Please check out the County Pro Bono Activities and Other Pro Bono Resources area to find out what is happening in a particular county.

The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania summarized a lawyer's pro bono duty in its February 2011 "Attorney E-Newsletter."