How important is pro bono to your law firm? What policies have you adopted to provide this needed service? Do you feel our profession should be mandated to provide specific hours or service requirements in the pro bono area?

• Position: Q&A

DAVIS: Most of the people around this table meet with people who have large incomes, good businesses, sophisticated legal needs. The vast majority of the population of this state are absolutely denied the right to legal assistance. They don't have the money. And it's just not the poor people, it's the median-wage earner. We have the responsibility to step forward. We're not just a business, we're a profession. And we need to step forward and help the people in family law, in the debtor area, in immigration, in landlord-tenant issues.

Jennifer and I serve on the Third District Pro Bono Committee, and over the past year the committee has served, through referrals, about a thousand people. There is room for every attorney and every law firm. Honestly, the vast majority of the pro bono lifting is being done by sole practitioners and small law firms. The large law firms are largely neglecting their responsibility. Maybe you're writing a good-size check for Justice For All. But we are not doing our part in going forward and helping.

ARGYLE: My organization is unique in that we are not a pro bono non-profit, we're a low bono non-profit. Low bono is the way of the future for addressing the unmet legal need in this country.

It is statistically impossible for a pro bono service to meet the unmet legal need in this country. Only 12.7 percent of Utahns qualify for pro bono through Legal Aid or Utah Legal Services or any of the other umbrella organizations, such as Justice For All.

But 51 percent of Utahns fit into our sliding scale. These are all people who would not be eligible for a free attorney. Every licensed attorney in the country would have to do 200 hours a year of pro bono in order to meet the unmet legal needs of just the indigent population of this country.

Pro bono is noble and amazing, and please, definitely sign up. But we also need to find a way to get our attorneys a way to earn a living and be willing to serve this demographic. We need to find a way to bridge the gap between the big firms and people like us, who are down in the trenches doing this work at $60 an hour.

WELCH: Law firms have a responsibility to incentivize it, to make sure that it's happening. My own preference is that it happen that way from individual attorneys at law firms, although I recognize the Bar may have to step in if it's just not happening.

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