50 Pro-Bono Hours Required to Pass the Bar in NY?! Forum

[SLim1124]

http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2012/05 ... -required/

I hope externship hrs can count toward this...

[dingbat]

This blows. I have no intention of ever dealing with the kind of stuff pro-bono requires.
Seriously, this is not the type of shit I want to do.

It's not like they make doctors hand out methadone at a free clinic, or accountants prepare tax returns for the unemployed.

This is fucking bullcrap.
I wonder if that dickwad ever did any pro-bono work?

[CyLaw]

So... it's not UPL if the client is poor?

[SLim1124]

What's UPL? And I would think they wouldn't want newly minted unemployed lawyers representing indigents... if you really want to help these people, shouldn't the requirement be aimed at lawyers with experience?
Bump.

[CyLaw]

UPL is "unauthorized practice of law"

[SLim1124]

ah. cheers for the clarification.

[crEEp]

This blows. I have no intention of ever dealing with the kind of stuff pro-bono requires.
Seriously, this is not the type of shit I want to do.

It's not like they make doctors hand out methadone at a free clinic, or accountants prepare tax returns for the unemployed.

This is fucking bullcrap.
I wonder if that dickwad ever did any pro-bono work?

Fuck you.

[sd5289]

Stupid.

...yet brilliant idea for screwing indigent clients.

[094320]

..

[sd5289]

Not really, as long as stuff like externships and student practice organizations count. The implementation is more concerning than the idea. A lot of law schools already have pro bono requirements for graduation, anyway. We have to do 40 hours. I already knocked out ~20 my second semester of 1L, and both cases I handled this year were successful. Most of my classmates will just knock it out with summer internships or clinics. There are a lot of relatively simple cases that don't require significant legal expertise, but indigent clients usually aren't comfortable enough navigating the system alone and are usually too overwhelmed by the emotional reality that something very significant about his/her life is currently on the line to be able to properly represent themselves. In a lot of situations it can take relatively little effort on the part of the law student, but be life-changing for the indigent client.

This I agree with assuming that clinics, unpaid internships, and externships count. I've debated this with my supervising attorney as well as some DOJ friends, and I think I may have been wrong with my knee-jerk reaction given the number of practitioners I've chased around to, you know, represent their F'n clients. I'll admit I have a bias in regards to ineffective counsel because it so often affects my own work currently. I am often the person indigent clients turn to with questions about not only the legal system itself, but about their attorneys (18B's for example) and what their attorneys are telling them. There are some cases that we do that could easily be done in a 50 hr pro bono context (e.g. a U-Visa petition which is really rather simple assuming your client qualifies). I'd love to see what the exact parameters are for this requirement. I could see how clinics, for example, wouldn't "count" simply because students receive academic credit for it. I dunno though...maybe Lippman thought this through more than I gave him credit for, and at that point I'll eat my words.