Pro Bono, Pro Liberal
White-shoe ideologues.

By Peter Roff, a national political analyst for United Press International
March 14, 2001 9:40 a.m.

ree legal work by the nation's 100 largest law firms tends to benefit liberal causes, according to a study by the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.

Most of the firms surveyed did their free — or "pro bono" — work for causes that could be identified as liberal or left-leaning. The authors said that the study, "the first comprehensive survey" of the types of groups receiving pro bono support, was undertaken "because press and public interest organizations often inquire about whether the pro bono work undertaken by the nation's leading law firms is politically/ideologically balanced."

The group said that 70 of the top U.S. law firms, as identified in The American Lawyer's 1998 list of the nation's 100 biggest law firms — known as "the AmLaw100" — provide information about the causes for which they do free work but that the list may not be comprehensive. It is "possible that a firm undertakes work that it chooses not to advertise or disclose," the report says.

The Federalist Society said that it assigned a political bent to those causes by using "the independently published and widely respected The Left Guide and The Right Guide as independent benchmarks."

Among the findings: About 23 percent of the 80 law firms for which data is available help with civil-rights matters, almost all of the work on behalf of groups supportive of "preferences," like the NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. Only one firm said it was involved in challenging affirmative action.

The study says 19 of the firms listed organizations that deal with "reproductive rights," "family planning," or "abortion rights," including the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, the National Abortion Foundation, the National Organization for Women, the National Women's Law Center, and Planned Parenthood. No firms listed support for pro-life groups.

Three firms listed work on behalf of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence and one identified Handgun Control, Inc. — both listed in The Left Guide — as beneficiaries of pro bono work. No firm in the survey identified work on behalf of pro-Second-Amendment groups.

The Federalist Society says it also conducted "an independent survey of litigating organizations" listed in the conservative Heritage Foundation's guide to organizations and experts, in an effort to expand upon the data that firms in the AmLaw100 make available to the public.

Results of this survey showed that 22 of the 70 firms — 31.4 percent — had done pro bono work for groups advancing a conservative or libertarian ideology. "By way of comparison," the Federalist Society says, 60 of the AmLaw100 firms — 85.7 percent — that list the groups they represent "assisted organizations which are contained in The Left Guide."

Jonathan Ross, chairman of the ABA standing committee on legal aid and indigent defendants, is critical of the study's conclusion. "Characterizing this as a liberal or conservative issue is the wrong way to go about looking at it," he says.

"Lawyers tend to give their time in public-interest law," Ross says, "to groups with whom they have some affinity or interest. I don't know of any law firms who select clients for pro bono work based on ideological criteria."

Ross says that the large firms making up the AmLaw100 are not necessarily representative of the legal community as a whole when it comes to pro bono work, which is "largely done by individuals for individuals."

"Pro bono work is generally (undertaken) to help poor people or their organizations. It would be unusual, in my judgment, to find pro bono work being done for well established well-heeled groups," Ross says.

The groups identified in the study, he says, "are, generally, serving the needs of poor people" who are not well off even though the organizations themselves may be well-funded.

The Federalist Society says the survey "is not intended to be a comprehensive listing of pro bono work performed by the AmLaw100." The report acknowledges that certain inherent limitations exist which makes detailing the full picture impossible.

The study says that 88 of the 100 leading U.S. law firms provide general statements regarding the goals and commitments of pro bono programs and that 52 belong to the "Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge" (PBC). The PBC is a joint project of the Pro Bono Institute and the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service.

The Federalist Society is influential among conservative legal theorists. It counts Robert Bork, a former nominee to the United States Supreme Court, and former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese, among its Board of Visitors. Energy Secretary Spence Abraham, a former Republican senator from Michigan, is among the group's founders.