BAR COUNSEL The Ethics of Pro Bono Navigating the Contours By Mark Johnson Roberts iStock type of pro bono service. Each law- yer in Oregon should endeavor an- nually to perform 80 hours of pro bono services. Of this total, the lawyer should endeavor to devote 20 to 40 hours or to handle two cases involving the direct provi- sion of legal services to the poor, without an expectation of com- pensation. If a lawyer is unable to provide direct legal services to the poor, the lawyer should endeavor to make a comparable financial contribution to an organization that provides or coordinates the provision of direct legal services to the poor. Oregon State Bar Bylaws, § 13.1 (Nov 20, 2015). T he American Bar Association ex- horts all lawyers to provide pro bono legal services: “Every law- yer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay. A lawyer should aspire to render at least 50 hours of pro bono publico legal services per year.” American Bar Associa- tion’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct (1983), Rule 6.1 (amended 2002). Oregon has not adopted Rule 6.1, but instead has placed the aspirational pro bono standard for Oregon lawyers into the bar’s bylaws: Pro bono publico or pro bono ser- vice includes all uncompensated services performed by lawyers for the public good. Such service in- cludes civic, charitable and public service activities, as well as activi- ties that improve the law, the legal system and the legal profession. The direct provision of legal ser- vices to the poor, without an ex- pectation of compensation, is one ethical implications, you, too, may be reaching for the needles. First of all, offering services at a chari- ty auction is not the provision of pro bono services. Presumably, the person who pur- chases the services will be able to pay for them; indeed, given the charitable nature of the activity, individual items often sell at these auctions for more than their fair- market value. Although this is a form of donation to charity, the lawyer is neither providing legal services nor making a fi- nancial contribution to the organization that hosts the auction. And offering legal services to an unknown client is fraught with ethical problems. A lawyer’s first duty is to provide com- petent representation. RPC 1.1. A law- yer who has neither met the clients nor Lawyers are often asked to provide pro bono legal services by directly accepting a client representation — by donating legal services to charity or by serving on a nonprofit board. Here is what you should know. This article will explore the ethical contours of two ways lawyers are often asked to provide pro bono legal services other than by directly accepting a client representation — by donating legal ser- vices to charity (i.e., through an auction or similar vehicle) and by serving on a nonprofit corporate board. The Charity Auction As a former divorce lawyer, this was one I generally escaped, although I have knit a couple of sweaters for charity auc- tions. And after thinking through the evaluated their needs cannot assure com- petence. The nature of an auction makes this difficult. Even an offer the lawyer — or a layperson — considers circumscribed (“a simple will”) can easily mean different things to different people. The purchasers will have paid for the services before ever meeting the lawyer and will expect repre- sentation based on what was told to them at the auction and their own interpreta- tion of what those words meant. Identifying the problem in this way raises a second area of concern, which is truthfulness in communications about the MAY 2016 • OREGON STATE BAR BULLETIN 9