Pro bono goes stagnant: report sets goals to revitalize the profession's provision of free services to the poor.

On starting a new career in the law, every Florida attorney takes an oath that includes the following:

"I will never reject, from any consideration personal to myself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed, or delay anyone's cause for lucre or malice. So help me God."

In keeping with that promise, the Florida Supreme Court has set an aspirational goal of having every Florida lawyer annually contribute either 20 hours of volunteer legal service to the poor or make a $350 donation to a legal aid organization. While performing the work is voluntary, lawyers must report annually on their fee statements whether they met the pro bono goal.

If you're not exactly paid down on that commitment, you're not alone. Only 52 percent of Florida attorneys are, or have been, meeting the aspirational goals since 2000. During the same time period, Florida's legal services providers report a 30 percent decline in the numbers of lawyers providing pro bono services through their organizations. And an increasing number of lawyers aren't making good on the mandatory reporting requirement, either.

To find out why, the Florida Supreme Court/The Florida Bar Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services commissioned a study from Kelly Carmody & Associates, a national consultant to civil legal aid funders, paid for by a grant from The Florida Bar Foundation.

"We had strong indications of some severe drops in pro bono activity in terms of number of hours and number of cases--the statistics were a little spotty, but it was pretty evident," says Paul Doyle, who directs the Foundation's Legal Services for the Poor grant funding program. "There was a growing concern that we were not paying enough attention to the pro bono delivery system--that we were failing to keep it vibrant and alive--just by what I would call benign neglect."

Florida was the first state in the nation to adopt IOTA and the first to adopt mandatory state reporting. The report credits the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar, the Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services, The Florida Bar Foundation, and Florida Legal Services for building a number of successful pro bono programs, showing strong commitment to expanding access to the poor, and a general participation rate of 50 percent per year.

"Unfortunately, 50 percent is far below what these institutions envisioned, far below the aspirational goal of the Florida pro bono rule, below what other states have achieved, and far below what is needed to close the justice gap," the report states.

The Florida Bar received national recognition for its pro bono program in the early '90s and pro bono contributions increased. But it's gone downhill since 2001. Since then, the report states, "Case-by-case attempts to revitalize pro bono programs have been generally unsuccessful."

It's not just Florida--pro bono is down everywhere. The Carmody & Associates report cites a national study released in mid-2007, which found that, for every poor individual receiving free legal services, another was turned away.

Why?

Attorneys responding to the survey gave several reasons for not providing pro bono services. Chief among them was a lack of time, the reason given by 64 percent (as compared with 69 percent nationally).

"I'm pulling my hair out trying to keep up with my family and my practice," said one single-mother solo practitioner.

"I am overworked. I have been working Saturdays and Sundays for over one year. I would do more pro bono work if I did not have responsibilities to paying clients," said another.

Family obligations and strict billable hour requirements at their paid positions--if not a downright scorn of pro bono--were other reasons.

None of those responses came as a surprise to Foundation President Kathleen...