Pro bono and government employees.

• Author: Richards-Rutberg, Anne E.
• Position: Florida

The opportunity to provide pro bono legal services to the poor has not traditionally been available to assistant state attorneys in the state of Florida. Mainly this is due to potential conflicts in handling outside civil cases and to policies long established by proper governmental protocol. The pro bono requirements of local bar associations were thus impossible to meet for government employees with such office policies. This served as a deterrent to many state employees in joining local bar associations. The alternative to the required pro bono services is a monetary payment, which did not help the dilemma for many state employees.

Recognizing the need for a solution, in early 1994, Norman Wolfinger, state attorney for the 18th Judicial Circuit comprising Brevard and Seminole counties, instituted a new pro bono policy for his staff. Noting that the mission, values, and vision of the office contemplated involvement by personnel of the office in community service and in participation in activities of The Florida Bar, pro bono legal services to the community became highly encouraged, although they remained entirely voluntary. They could not detract from the assistant state attorney's first obligation to the state. Thus, the assistant must avoid the establishment of an attorney-client relationship that could result in a prosecutor being disqualified from prosecuting any criminal or juvenile case; the service should not cause the prosecutor to become a party to communications which any other party would reasonably be entitled to expect to be privileged or confidential and not fully admissible into evidence in a civil or criminal case, as well as evidence which could be discovered as the fruit of such communications; and the services must not create any other type of conflict of interest or the appearance thereof.

The definition of pro bono legal services conforms to the definition by the Florida Supreme Court as set out in Amendments to Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, 630 So. 2d 501 (1993). This definition includes indigent individuals as well as the "working poor." Attorneys are expected to use their best professional judgment in determining if a person is eligible for such assistance. In addition, except for the occasional use of telephones for local calls and the use of the office libraries for legal research, the use of any supplies, equipment, office clerical staff, or other facilities of the state attorney's various offices is...