[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” text_align=”left” background_animation=”none” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]2020 put the viability of virtual pro bono clinics to the test. The American Bar Association (ABA) hosted its 12th Annual Celebration of Pro Bono October 21 – 31, 2020, also known as Pro Bono Week. Due to the pandemic, the event’s annual theme was “Rising to Meet the Challenge: Pro Bono Response to COVID-19.” Regardless of the remote circumstances, bar associations, legal departments and law firms across the country successfully collaborated to host virtual pro bono clinics during or around the time of Pro Bono Week.
We checked in with several in-house pro bono leaders to hear their insights on the challenges and successes of navigating pro bono services in a virtual setting.
Renee Garcia, Managing Senior Counsel of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (PNC)**, and the chair of the PNC Legal pro bono program, spoke about the overall success of their virtual pro bono clinics despite initial challenges with technology.
What event(s) did your institution organize for Pro Bono Week?
RG: Working with Blank Rome*, Dinsmore & Shohl, and Reed Smith*, we were able to offer the following virtual clinics during the last two weeks of October:
- Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – Voter Protection Hotline
- Prairie State Legal Services – Hotline
- Neighborhood Legal Services – Protection From Abuse
- Cancer Caring Center – Wills Clinic
- Transgender Legal Defense Fund- Name Change Clinic
- Ohio Justice Policy Center – Beyond Guilt
- The Veteran’s Consortium Advice and Referral Pro Bono Legal Clinics
- The Veteran’s Consortium Military Discharge Upgrade Clinic
- Duquesne University School of Law Wills and Healthcare Decisions Clinic
What was the biggest challenge about hosting a pro bono event virtually versus in-person?
RG: Certainly the technology was a challenge for us, our nonprofit partners and our clients, but, after a few test runs, everything ran pretty smoothly. Working with translators was a bit trickier. Finally, we also recognize that our nonprofit and law firm partners were generally overwhelmed, and we very much appreciate that they took the time and resources to set up these clinics.
Did you see any benefits in hosting an event virtually instead of in-person? If so, what were they? For example, were you able to reach more people or a wider range of people through a virtual event?
RG: Yes, there were some opportunities that we could open up to attorneys in all of our locations, so teams could participate together. Likely there were some attorneys that found it easier to join virtually, even if the clinic was taking place in their home city.
What is something that made your event successful? In terms of pro bono service, how are you defining the success of your event?
RG: Overall, PNC logged over 100 engagements during Pro Bono Week, including 25 lawyers staffing 50 shifts on the voter protection hotline. We estimate the contribution to be over 1,000 hours to pro bono during the event. Additionally, our partners and clients seemed pleased, so that’s a success, too!
Do you think hosting virtual pro bono events is something that is sustainable and would be worth replicating even after the pandemic? Or, do you feel that hosting a virtual event was something that your institution will only use as a solution for this circumstance?
RG: Yes, I do think some of the clinics worked very well remotely, and we would like to offer both virtual and in-person clinics in the future.
Kyle Luebke, Vice President and Senior Corporate Counsel of U.S. Bank**, and Co-Chair of the U.S. Bank Law Division Pro Bono Committee, described the increased accessibility and efficiency of hosting virtual pro bono services. Meanwhile, he mentioned the loss of “human contact” as a downside to the remote format, due to only being able to engage with clients through a screen.
What event(s) did your institution organize for Pro Bono Week?
KL: We held two remote social events, a remote clinic and two CLEs for our U.S. Bank pro bono community. For our clinic, we worked with McGuireWoods* and the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center to organize a Driver License Restoration Clinic in the Charlotte office. We also collaborated on the creation and presentation of two CLEs. Racial Disparity and Pro Bono in MN with Volunteer Lawyers Network (credit pending) and Navigating Ethical Duties During Remote Pro Bono Service with McGuireWoods and the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy.
What was the biggest challenge about hosting a pro bono event virtually versus in-person?
KL: As members of the law division are located around the country, we have historically hosted many events virtually. That being said, we have never done a clinic virtually – so that was a new and interesting experience for all of us this year. Probably the biggest challenge for the Driver License Restoration Clinic was technology. Each of our institutions have different security metrics regarding virtual software like Zoom or WebEx. Having to organize an event with these differences in mind required a lot of flexibility on everyone’s part.
Did you see any benefits in hosting an event virtually instead of in-person? If so, what were they? For example, were you able to reach more people or a wider range of people through a virtual event?
KL: Absolutely. So I think there are two main benefits of a virtual event. One is that people who are not located *in* a particular area can participate. For the Driver License Restoration Clinic we not only had lawyers in Charlotte, but also in Ashville and Minneapolis. Second, it is easier to get people engaged from a time perspective. I think we discount how much time it takes to get to the actual site where pro bono services are provided. In the virtual setting, your “commute” to the pro bono site is the walk to your computer, which I think makes pro bono much more accessible to a broader audience.
What is something that made your event successful? In terms of pro bono service, how are you defining the success of your event?
KL: I think success for an event can be measured in three distinct ways, both on a pro bono level and a professional level.
First, does the event make pro bono accessible? Our clinic was easy to access. The team from the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center made the work to be done for our clients non-threatening and made it clear that we did not need a background in driver license restoration work. Too often, we think of pro bono as something that we *need* to be experts in, and I think that turns a lot of people off.
Second, how do we impact our clients? Though our particular clinic only was a drop in the bucket for the need for driver license restoration, such restoration is something that changes lives and allows people to break out of cycles of poverty. Contributing to the success of people in our community is a hallmark of effectiveness.
Third, does this deepen relationships between partners? This clinic allowed U.S. Bank lawyers to interact with McGuireWoods lawyers. Many of these connections were new and would never have been made without a clinic bringing us together.
Do you think hosting virtual pro bono events is something that is sustainable and would be worth replicating even after the pandemic? Or, do you feel that hosting a virtual event was something that your institution will only use as a solution for this circumstance?
KL: I think this is a question that is up in the air. I think that there are absolute positives as noted above when it comes to virtual pro bono and I think that there will be a place for such programs in the future. But I also think that a big part of pro bono service is engaging on a human level with our clients. That human contact is lost in the virtual setting. So, we shall see.
Similar to Garcia and Luebke, Anna Burns, Assistant General Counsel and Legal Day of Service Chair at JPMorgan Chase, spoke about concerns of technology and the loss of in-person engagement with clients. However, she highlighted the wide reach of the virtual pro bono projects and increased collaborations made possible in a virtual space.
What event(s) did your institution organize for Pro Bono Week?
AB: When the global COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, the JPMorgan Chase Legal Pro Bono Program was faced with the conundrum about what to do for its sixth annual Legal Day of Service. As the pandemic escalated, it became clear that many communities needed access to legal services, so the team transitioned its annual in-person, day-long event into a week-long virtual program. Held November 9-13, the week included more than 40 projects across the globe covering areas from civil liberties (e.g., racial inequality, gender/sexual orientation, immigration), elder care and family law, to the arts, mentoring/education, financial health and small business development.
What was the biggest challenge about hosting a pro bono event virtually versus in-person?
AB: We expected the biggest challenge would be technology, particularly making sure that our partner organizations and their clients had access to the right tools to make the events possible. Luckily, in most cases that did not end up being a problem. We found that we engaged in different events than we might have with in-person options, but it was an opportunity to engage with new pro bono partners or find new ways to engage with our previous partners.
Did you see any benefits in hosting an event virtually instead of in-person? If so, what were they? For example, were you able to reach more people or a wider range of people through a virtual event?
AB: In many ways, the virtual events made hosting and organizing much easier – our volunteers were able to participate from their homes and still make a meaningful impact on clients and project beneficiaries. Likewise, clients were able to obtain counsel, advice, and mentoring from their own homes. Hosting virtual clinics and projects also meant that a colleague in California could participate in an event hosted by an organization in New York City and so on, opening the doors to build new relationships and partnerships.
What is something that made your event successful? In terms of pro bono service, how are you defining the success of your event?
AB: For us, success was still being able to host over 40 global events and provide assistance to clients in need. We also had over 500 members of our firm serve as volunteers, which was great to see, as a result of encouraging our business and functional partners across the firm to join us.
Do you think hosting virtual pro bono events is something that is sustainable and would be worth replicating even after the pandemic? Or do you feel that hosting a virtual event was something that your institution will only use as a solution for this circumstance?
AB: Hosting virtual events is certainly something that is sustainable, but we wouldn’t want to limit ourselves to only one method of participation exclusively. It’s very meaningful to meet with a client in person, at the same table, to discuss what are sometimes very personal matters. That power doesn’t go away in a virtual environment, but it can’t exactly be replicated. Having the flexibility to execute events in both styles will definitely be beneficial for our department going forward.
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We congratulate PNC, U.S. Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and the many other departments, firms, and organizations that organized virtual clinics and other pro bono opportunities in 2020. Since the beginning of the pandemic, lawyers have quickly adapted to virtual settings in order to meet increased levels of need. While offering pro bono services virtually has allowed for greater accessibility, a wider reach, and new collaborations, it also removes the personal aspect of engaging with clients face-to-face at a clinic. Nonetheless, virtual pro bono services have proven to be impactful, and will likely be a sustained feature of pro bono programs beyond the pandemic.
*denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® signatory
**denotes a Corporate Pro Bono Challenge® signatory
Hat tip to PBI intern Angie Sohn for her assistance drafting this blog. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]