Pro Bono

• Jurisdiction: Georgia,United States
• Citation: Vol. 16 No. 5 Pg. 0052
• Pages: 0052
• Publication year: 2011

Pro Bono No. Vol. 16 No. 5 Pg. 52 Georgia Bar Journal February, 2011

Co-counsel With a Public Interest Lawyer

by Michael Monahan and Douglas Ashworth

In presentations we make to local bar associations around the state, we often urge the members in attendance to reflect on their role as mentor and guardian—mentor of new or inexperienced lawyers and guardian of the keys to the courthouse. That obligation goes beyond seeing that new lawyers are technically prepared for their work. Our profession has very specific and dearly held values about professionalism and pro bono service, and it is these values that must also be preserved and shared with succeeding generations of lawyers, including lawyers who are committed to public interest work.

Consider co-counseling on a pro bono basis with new or inexperienced public interest lawyers as a way to pass along the skills and professional values you have developed. (See side bar on page 53.)

Public interest programs lack training resources, yet the programs' attorneys need nurturing. At times, public interest lawyers are insulated, yet need to seek networking and professional growth opportunities. Many newly admitted attorneys are already veterans of a

world in which information is only a wireless hot-spot-or even a tweet—away. Ironically, they still enter into a legal profession where experience and knowledge cannot be e-mailed, clicked to or tweeted instantaneously. Thus, despite ongoing and breath-taking technological advances, the need, and the opportunity for meaningful mentoring, remains as constant as the ages.

For their part, public interest lawyers can offer you very valuable insights into the law as it affects low-income families and marginalized...