Pro bono services cannot keep up with demand.

• Position: Law & Justice

Available private and public resources do not meet the legal needs of Americans with limited means, maintains a multidisciplinary investigation of the evolving role of pro bono legal services in the U.S. Even though it has increased significantly, pro bono work is insufficient to address the many social and legal problems confronted by the poor and more government assistance and better coordination of available services are needed, contends the analysis published in Private Lawyers and the Public Interest: The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the Legal Profession, a collection of original essays by leading and emerging scholars in the field.

Robert Granfield, one of the book's editors and professor and chair of the Department of Sociology at the University at Buffalo (N.Y.), indicates the good news is that private attorneys have attempted to step into the breach to address the legal needs of the poor. The bad news is that the breach has widened; the need is growing rapidly; and publicly funded assistance has decreased. "Today, pro bono accounts for roughly one-third of all civil legal assistance for those of limited means and it is increasing internationally as well.

"The amount of pro bono legal work is up substantially in the U.S., especially in large law firms. In fact it has increased 10% since 2004, with 73% of lawyers polled by the American Bar Association saying they provide some pro bono work." However, "pro bono activity is unevenly distributed throughout the profession. Only 27% of the attorneys in an ABA survey provide the 50 hours of legal services encouraged by the association.

"Unfortunately, the increase in pro bono work has been accompanied by--in fact, it was fueled by--a dramatic reduction in government funding for legal services to the poor. That, coupled with the restrictions imposed on legal services lawyers, who are limited in the strategies they can use for clients in civil cases, for instance, poses very serious problems for individuals of limited means who seek access to justice."

Adds Lynn Mather, visiting scholar at the UCLA School of Law, "This occurs at the same time as we are seeing a major increase in the number of people facing problems with housing and foreclosure...