One man’s quest to get CLE credit for providing pro bono

A veteran lawyer’s campaign to have lawyers who provide pro bono work receive CLE credit in return isn’t gaining traction, at least for now.

Neil Chonin, a former winner of the Supreme Court’s prestigious Tobias Simon pro bono award and now a public interest lawyer for Southern Legal Counsel in Gainesville, has made pitches to the Bar’s Pro Bono Legal Services Committee, the Continuing Legal Education Committee, and the Board of Legal Specialization and Education.

Chonin said in his original idea, a lawyer could get six CLE credits for taking a pro bono case, more if “a case takes on a life of its own.”

“There was some discussion that the referral should come from legal services and/or the court. I basically felt, what difference does it make where it came from? If the lawyer were taking on a case he could get approval from the CLE committee and any kind of a pro bono case that the lawyer was willing to handle should be acceptable, but certainly could be reviewed to get approval,” Chonin said.

“I didn’t see the need for a great big bureaucracy and a great big plan; look what we do now (to report pro bono work). The lawyer checks a box [on the annual Bar membership fees statement]; no one checks them out; there’s no verification. So why do you need a whole big bureaucracy to give lawyers some credit for doing pro bono work?”

But it wasn’t the possibility of a bureaucracy that gave pause to the pro bono committee, which looked at Chonin’s request in September. Committee member Robin Rosenberg reported that the ABA had a chart of seven states that gave CLE credit for pro bono work and several others that considered and rejected the idea.

Those that gave credit typically gave one CLE credit for every five to eight hours of pro bono service, she said.

The difficulty, she said, comes when a claim for CLE credit is made. “Nobody knows whether it’s new lawyers doing pro bono or lawyers who were already doing pro bono and are now seeking CLE credit for it.”

She also questioned whether such a program could just accept a lawyer’s claim that pro bono work was performed, and said any such system might have to be run through legal aid or pro bono programs to provide verification.

Rosenberg also noted that a variety of free CLE instruction is available for lawyers who volunteer to take pro bono cases.

Committee members expressed skepticism that Chonin’s idea would actually boost pro bono, and also said it might garner opposition from providers of CLE courses.

The committee wound up unanimously voting to table his suggestion indefinitely.

Chonin didn’t fare much better before the CLE Committee or the BLSE. The CLE Committee voted unanimously that doing pro bono is an aspirational duty of all lawyers and should not require an incentive such as free CLE. The BLSE discussed the issue at its June meeting, but tabled it and is scheduled to take it up again in November.

Chonin said he’s convinced that offering credit would attract solo and small firm lawyers who have trouble fitting pro bono into their schedules. He hasn’t decided what his next step will be, but he could get 50 signatures of Bar members and file a petition at the Supreme Court seeking a rules change to grant the CLE credit.

— Courtesy Florida Bar News