Author Description

"The principle and practice of pro bono-volunteer legal services for poor and other marginalized groups-is an increasingly important feature of justice systems around the world.1 A quarter century ago, pro bono was an ancillary part of the U.S. system and virtually nonexistent as an institutional matter elsewhere.2 Now, in contrast, pro bono has become widely diffused and institutionally central in a growing number of countries throughout the Global North and South. PILNet, a key player in the global pro bono industry, has hosted Pro Bono Forums around the world (ten in Europe, three in Asia, and two in Russia), recently convening Global Forums bringing together law firm pro bono coordinators, civil society partners, and representatives from over fifty pro bono clearinghouses in countries as diverse as Indonesia and Italy. Yet as pro bono spreads it develops in diverse ways that reveal different approaches and unique understandings of the role that volunteer services should play in promoting access to justice. In its advance, pro bono often brings important positive outcomes for underserved individuals and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that advocate on their behalf. But pro bono also invites controversy-attacked by proponents of state-based legal aid as a vehicle of neoliberal privatization and resisted by solo and small-firm lawyers as unfair competition. It is in this context that our book seeks to deepen understanding of pro bono as a double-edged sword: a vehicle of redistributing legal resources to those who desperately need them, but also a tool of professional legitimation that reinforces profound inequalities in the legal system. Covering the spread of pro bono in over twenty countries across five continents, this book provides a unique comparative dataset permitting"--