October 21, 2026
In advance of this year’s Pro Bono Week, I think some musical inspiration is in order!
If you have been to the CBA and CBF Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon in recent years, you know that we start with a song to help set a theme for that year’s event and provide some inspiration. Back in 2021, we reviewed the first eight years of great music in my first Pro Bono Magical Mystery Tour post.
For our 2026 musical tour, we want to take a tour of the theme songs from the past five years. If nothing else, reading this will be a good opportunity to reconnect with some great music. My hope is it will also remind you of the unique power we have as lawyers and legal professionals to make a real difference in our community through pro bono service and our larger leadership in helping ensure the justice system is fair and accessible to all.
Now on to the music!
This hit from Simon and Garfunkel, from a classic concert in Central Park more than 40 years ago, kicked off the 2022 Luncheon and would have been a great fit for this 250th Anniversary year for our country too.
If you are familiar with the song, you will remember the protagonists embark on a long road trip and soon learn that they are just two of countless others who have all come to look for America and chase the American dream, and the more perfect union we all are striving for that lives up to our nation’s ideals.
That song was released more than 50 years ago in 1968, and yet lately, it often feels like we’re farther away from reaching those ideals than we have been in quite some time and we may not be able to make a difference. But those moments of questioning whether this work really matters have been fleeting, because what we are doing could not be more important than it is at times like this. No, we won’t be able to fix everything that ails our country by ensuring that our justice system is fair and accessible for all, but we will never be able to fix those bigger problems if we don’t get the justice part right, and all of us in the legal profession have a unique ability to advance that ideal.
Bruce Hornsby’s great song from the 1980’s was a fitting way to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon in 2023.
Released back in 1986, the song was about the ongoing fight for civil rights and equality and pushing back on the belief of many at that time that racism and inequality in our country were just the way it is.
While recent events have reminded us that our country still has much more work to do to remedy centuries of oppression and inequality, in the almost 40 years since that song was released, we have made significant progress as a country on this front. And that progress has been possible both before and after this song was released because strong and dedicated people fought to make the ideals of our country a reality for everyone and would not accept that was just the way it is when that is not the case even when it put their lives at risk.
That theme from the song is equally on point in our collective quest to fulfill our nation’s promise of justice for all, where despite some notable progress in recent years, there is still a long way to go. Wherever we are in the profession or justice system, we all have the power of the unique knowledge, training, and experience to help people in a way that others cannot.
This Bill Withers classic helped to set the stage for the 2024 Luncheon.
It not only is a great song about life, it also is a great way to think about pro bono and the special power it gives us as lawyers and legal professionals to help people in need.
The reality in our community and around the country is that it is not just that people might have a problem that we would understand. In the words of the song, those people in need in our community are calling on us for help when they are not strong, and we can help them carry on in a way that no one else can.
With 2025 one of the wildest years of our legal lifetimes, this special edition of Heroes from David Bowie seemed particularly fitting to kick off last year’s Luncheon.
Wherever we are in the legal community, all of us who are lawyers, judges, and legal professionals have a unique capacity to be heroes like the unsung heroes we honor every year at the Luncheon, and not just for one day but throughout the year.
To complete our 2026 tour, this classic from Bruce Springsteen seemed particularly appropriate to kick off this year’s Luncheon as we celebrate our nation’s 250th Anniversary.
As we celebrate this historic milestone year, for all our imperfections as a country from the start, America is still the land of hope and dreams when we live up to our ideals. And access to justice has always been central to those ideals.
We all can make a real difference and help America remain the land of hope and dreams, and this year’s honorees gave us tremendous examples of how we can use the power of our unique knowledge, training, and experience to do so.
A Rewind of the Inaugural Tour
Along with the five songs that make up our 2026 tour, a brief reminder of the classic songs that were profiled in the first Pro Bono Magical Mystery Tour post, all of which still resonate today and are great songs. (Check out the 2021 post if you are interested in the background on how these songs were chosen).
- We Take Care of Own
- The Revolution Starts Now
- People Have the Power
- American Land
- I’ll Stand by You
- The Story
- Waitin’ on a Sunny Day
- I Can See Clearly Now
Onward
If you have read this far, and maybe listened to some of the songs along with it, there is a lot of great music there for sure. And hopefully a little inspiration too for the difference we all can make as lawyers and other legal professionals. Happy Pro Bono Week!