Pro Bono

• Publication year: 2021
• Pages: 0070
• Citation: Vol. 27 No. 1 Pg. 0070

Pro Bono Vol. 27 No. 1 Pg. 70 Georgia Bar Journal August, 2021

Volunteering and Happiness

What? Volunteering will make you happier? That's right. Multiple studies have shown that volunteering on a regular basis can give a boost to a person's happiness. So, what are you waiting for? Get happy. Do pro bono.

BY SARAH J. ANDERSON

So here it is. Another article about why you should be taking pro bono cases. But this isn't the typical article on why it's good to donate your legal talents to programs like Georgia Legal Services Program. This article is not about Bar Rule 6.1, which states that we should aspire to provide at least 50 hours of pro bono service a year. This article is not about the fact that every year more than 800,000 cases involve self-represented litigants, or the fact that those litigants have difficulty understanding the court process. Self-represented litigants miss deadlines, resulting in dismissed cases, and often feel at a disadvantage in negotiations and in the courtroom when there is an attorney on the other side.

This article is also not going to talk about all the professional benefits attorneys get out of taking pro bono cases. There will be no talk about how pro bono cases can help you sharpen litigation skills, give you the opportunity to appear before judges in a variety of cases or improve your client/case management skills.

No, this article is about a benefit you might not have considered before: the health benefits of volunteering. Especially, the connection between volunteering and happiness.

What? Volunteering will make you happier? That's right. Multiple studies have shown that volunteering on a regular basis can give a boost to a person's happiness. A 2004 study found a connection between volunteering and happiness.^[1]People who did not volunteer reported the lowest scores for happiness.^[2] Those who volunteered weekly or monthly reported the highest.^[3] Most interesting was that volunteers all reported high happiness levels regardless of the original motivation behind volunteering.^[4] That means that whether you volunteer simply because you enjoy helping people or because you see volunteering as an investment in your career, you will still experience an increase in happiness.

When volunteering, you can't get too much of a good thing. A 2007 longitudinal study following Wisconsin volunteers for decades found that volunteering has a positive effect on a person's sense of wellbeing^[5] over...