Personal Injury Law

Pro Bono Hours On The Decline In Florida

By Eddie Farah

Are Florida's lawyers spending less time helping those who cannot afford to pay?

The Florida Bar, reports that the number of hours Florida lawyers donate to the poor every year is on the decline, especially when you consider the growing number of new lawyers that graduate every year.   

Young lawyers, eager to please their bosses, are less likely to spend time with clients who cannot pay, than with clients who will add to their "billable hours" total.  That ultimately is how one is judged in a big law firm.   

The number of people in need of lawyers but unable to pay has grown since the 1960s. That's when legal aid organizations were established to serve the indigent and low-income population.  Increasingly the eroding middle class can be considered in that group.

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, established in 1976,  provides legal aid to indigent and low income persons and asks local law firms to lend their expertise to specialty areas of the law and to help with the overload. 

Farah and Farah is a proud supporter of JALA in time and resources.

The Florida Bar is commissioning a study to find out lawyers attitudes across the state about Pro Bono, Latin for "For the Public" hours.  

Really, those who love the law generally will tell you they got into it to make a difference and that includes helping the legal system level the playing field to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.

Our doors are open at Farah and Farah to the community. Some of our most important, significant and ultimately satisfying cases have been tried and won making the legal system work for everyone. #

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on May 03, 2008 (boomark / email).