Peter Singer, Drowning Children, and Pro Bono

This Article uses the ethicist Peter Singer\u27s principles to examine and critique the legal profession\u27s pro bono efforts in the face of the persistent gap between the public\u27s legal needs and their ability to meet them. Singer argues that adults should jump into a pond to save a drowning child. Using the drowning child as an analogy, this Article argues that lawyers are morally obligated to (1)increase the amount of their pro bono efforts, (2) be more selective in the cases they take, and (3) be significantly more generous in their financial support for legal services providers. These obligations are especially acute for the largest, most profitable firms. Specifically, this Article suggests that (1) pro bono be mandatory but at a lower yearly figure than is currently suggested, (2) law firms should sometimes eschew high profile pro bono cases in favor of less visible but more impactful work, and (3) extremely profitable law firms and their partners should donate significantly more money to effective legal services organizations

Reginald Heber Smith and Justice and the Poor in the 21st Century

Reginald Heber Smith\u27s 1919 book, Justice and the Poor, is one of the most important books about the legal profession in history. It found that people without money were denied access to the courts. Smith argued that this failure to provide equal justice undermined the social fabric of the nation. Accordingly, he urged a number of actions, including simplifying court procedures, creating small claims courts, and providing the poor with access to lawyers. These lawyers would deliver a full range of legal services to their clients, including seeking reform of the substantive laws that burdened the poor. Smith\u27s book shamed the elite bar into action and led to the creation of the modern legal aid movement. As we come upon the 1 00th anniversary of its publication, Justice and the Poor reminds us that we are not much closer to Smith\u27s vision of equal justice than we were in 1919