Pro Bono
| Jurisdiction | Georgia,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 21 No. 5 Pg. 0036 |
| Pages | 0036 |
| Publication year | 2016 |
Predictions: What's Hot in Pro Bono for 2016
by Michael Monahan, J.
We don't often talk about pro bono publico in terms of being sexy or exciting. But there's so much in pro bono in Georgia that has become cutting edge. Lawyers across the state are engaging in activities that serve the public in ways that are indeed innovative and powerful.
I am singling out several predictions about what I think will be hot in pro bono publico in Georgia for 2016. Perhaps one or more of these predictions will serve to encourage you to step up your pro bono game, get involved, or rethink and revitalize your current approach to pro bono service.
Georgia Bar Rule 6.5
Georgia is definitely keeping pace with other states on rules that encourage pro bono services. Bar Rule 6.5 will be burning hot in 2016. This Nonprofit and Court-Annexed Limited Legal Services Programs rule is a fairly new rule with which lawyers around the state are finally becoming familiar. The most efficient and helpful means of providing legal advice and brief services on a pro bono basis to low-income households is through public interest-sponsored legal clinics, court-based information centers, telephone helplines or web-based legal aid services. The requirement
of conflicts checks has frequently dampened interest in activities such as these, after all, you need to know who's coming or who will be on the other end of the telephone line before you know you can help. Now, participate in these delivery systems and Rule 6.5 gives you flexibility on conflicts checks, suspending the ordinary prohibitions of Rules 1.7,1.9 and 1.10 for attorneys volunteering in a legal aid or court-based help center context who might otherwise be conflicted out of accepting a client where an adverse party has been assisted outside the setting by the attorney or by another attorney at the firm. This is permitted as long as the volunteer attorney has no actual or imputed knowledge of the conflict and the advice or brief service is a one-off occasion. Continuing representation beyond the one-time brief consultation or service requires a conflicts check.
Rule 6.5 clearly opens the door for more access to justice in Georgia, and has resulted in greater volunteer participation in legal clinics and other brief volunteer lawyer services since its recent introduction. In 2016, you're likely to see more pro bono legal clinics and increasing pro bono brief advice and virtual services.
A New Law Student Practice Rule
Late in the summer of 2015, the Supreme Court of Georgia totally revamped Part XV of its rules to allow most law students, after one year of law school, to engage in student practice. Rules 91-95 reflect the Court's intention to promote the use of second and third-year law students in the provision of pro bono and other access to justice legal activities. Prof. Clark Cunningham of the Georgia State University College of...
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