PRO BONO 2008: The Pros

Incisive Media Global

SURVEYS AND RANKINGS

MAGAZINE

FEATURED SPONSORS

The Talent

July 21, 2008 5:13 PM

PRO BONO 2008: The Pros

Posted by Nicole White

After eight years of helping law students plan their futures, Harlene Katzman is following her charges from the Ivory Tower into private practice. And the former dean of the Columbia Law School's Center for Public Interest Law is bringing her altruistic streak along with her.

This October, fresh off maternity leave, Katzman is set to join Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as the firm's first-ever pro bono counsel. While this position is new to Simpson, more and more large law firms are creating such full-time staff positions (The American Lawyer's Daphne Eviatar reports on the trend in the current issue of the magazine). Since January, Jones Day, Baker & McKenzie, McDermott Will & Emery, and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal all have hired pro bono counsel or pro bono partners to coordinate their efforts.

"It can be hard to find someone with a full workload to organize pro bono efforts," says Esther Lardent, president and chief executive officer of the Pro Bono Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. The institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to legal services for low-income groups and individuals. "There can be some real benefits of having someone who is keeping an eye on pro bono and making it as easy as possible for people to do pro bono work."

As our report in the July issue notes, increased pressure on U.S. law firms to boost pro bono hours and greater centralization of firm management has led to a substantial increase in these new positions. "In an institution of any size with a great deal of pressure, which is what our law firms are today, that which is not promoted is going to be demoted," said Joseph Genova, pro bono partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. In order to prevent pro bono from slipping through the cracks in high-pressure firms, pro bono coordinators step in and make giving back as easy as possible by connecting lawyers with cases of interest and tracking all ongoing projects.

Katzman describes her future role at Simpson as being the person who works out "nitty-gritty details" on pro bono projects so that time-crunched lawyers can focus on the cases themselves.

"They just come in, they meet the client, and they do the work, which is really what they want to be doing," she explains. "The other piece of it--the networking and the connecting and the setting up--is the piece that I want to be doing."

For Katzman, the Simpson job dovetails neatly with her work at Columbia: finding public interest opportunities so that students could get a taste of the issues and cases that appeal to them. Serving as such a liaison will ensure that everyone has a shot at finding a project about which they are passionate. That, she says, is the key to public service.

It's a lesson Katzman learned through personal experience. The daughter of what she describes as a staunch feminist, Katzman became interested in gender equality issues at an early age once she decided that low-income women "got the raw end of the deal every single time." Early in her career, she focused on domestic abuse, among other issues, handling everything from orders of protection to helping battered immigrant women escape their abusers and earn citizenship. The young lawyer later moved on to litigate employment and housing discrimination cases. The 1991 Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings inspired Katzman to take on more sexual harassment claims--an experience she loved, but ultimately left because she preferred the campus to the courtroom.

Her challenge now: help Simpson attorneys keep up the firm's strong commitment to pro bono work. One way she can succeed is by creating a structure and system with the firm that makes it easy for attorneys to take on such work.

"You can't force people to do good. It's not human nature," says Katzman. "What you want to do is create a program where everybody opts in and really wants to be a part of it. Once they want to be a part of it, you've got energy and enthusiasm that is really strong and really positive."

Katzman has made a career of following her instincts and interests, and her move to Simpson is no exception. Though the firm received over 100 applications for the position, Todd Crider and William Russell, cochairs of Simpson's pro bono committee, say the firm reached out to Katzman when they heard she might be interested. Both Crider and Russell had worked with Katzman on public service matters in the past, and decided she would be ideal for the new role. Having directed many of her students to the firm because of its emphasis on pro bono work, Katzman says she immediately knew the firm was a good fit.

"Hopefully it was a match made in heaven," says Katzman. She laughs, then pauses, saying, "Wow, that sounded really cheesy."

It also sounds just about right.

Make a comment

Comments (0)
Save & Share: Facebook | Del.ic.ious | | Email |

Reprints & Permissions