Pro Bono Program

Pro bono attorneys are a critical part of the effort to make the justice system fair and accessible for everyone. There are 45,000 lawyers in the Chicago area, but only about 300 full-time legal aid attorneys to meet the needs of the more than 1.5 million people who qualify for help. Pro bono attorneys handled 15% of all cases at legal aid organizations over the past year, and contributed many thousands of hours outside of this network. More help is needed.

Georgia C. is why I do pro bono. My colleague Brett Johnson and I spent 6 months and hundreds of hours to get her the pension benefits she’d earned. When we told her that her employer had finally agreed to a significant settlement, she cried tears of joy. We had literally changed someone’s life simply by doing our jobs and using available resources. What a simple thing. Our work took no special skills and no particular insight. It just took our time and our commitment not to give up. This project was life changing for both me and my client. I know I will never forget the feeling of helping her and I will continue to work to help those like her as best I can.

Todd Solomon, Partner, McDermott, Will & Emery

The Chicago Bar Association’s Pro Bono Resolution, updated and reaffirmed by the Board of Managers in 2014, recognizes this need by encouraging members provide at least 50 hours of pro bono services each year. The Resolution also includes other commitments and standards to advance access to justice.

The CBF promotes and supports a variety of pro bono activities to help ensure that pro bono services most effectively supplement the work of dedicated legal aid attorneys and otherwise increase access to justice to the maximum extent possible.

The CBF’s role as a funder, our close working relationships with all pro bono stakeholders, and our decades of experience uniquely position us to address pro bono as part of the overall access to justice landscape. With this perspective, the CBF’s approach includes: