Pro bono is an essential tool for fighting the justice inequities that exist in the United States. While the primary motivation for taking on a pro bono matter is to help underserved individuals receive legal assistance, pro bono is also an effective way to create and strengthen client relationships, attract and retain attorney talent, and explore subjects areas outside of an attorney’s day-to-day practice.
Furthermore, pro bono work is a valuable professional development tool that can provide young lawyers with opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be available until much later in their careers. While new attorneys spend much of their time conducting document review and due diligence, pro bono cases allow these lawyers to get into the courtroom, lead client interviews, and steer deal negotiations. Additionally, with smaller legal teams, pro bono is an excellent way to work directly with clients and develop soft skills such as relationship building.
Based on extensive client research, Paladin is thrilled to announce a new pro bono-focused attorney development feature. This innovative tool provides attorneys with easy access to professional development opportunities in the community, and firm leadership with the ability to track the skills developed by their lawyers in one central location. With fourteen specific skills that attorneys can acquire through pro bono cases, including ‘negotiation,’ ‘client communication,’ and ‘courtroom experience,’ lawyers can easily search for pro bono matters that help them meet their own professional development goals.
In the ever competitive legal landscape, providing professional development opportunities allows firms to stand out. The more organizations assist their lawyers in skill strengthening and confidence building, the better legal assistance their attorneys can provide. While there is no doubt that traditional training and lunch-and-learns are helpful, nothing provides for greater learning than hands-on experience, and pro bono is a fantastic way to access those opportunities.
As always, we thank our attorneys for their commitment to increasing access to justice, and look forward to supporting our clients in their attorney development goals.
Stephanie Dworkin
Stephanie joins us from the corporate team at Goodwin Procter in Boston. Prior to Goodwin, Stephanie worked as a legal intern at the Innocence Project and on the Customer Experience team at ZocDoc. Having worked in both tech and law, she is thrilled to be joining the Paladin team!
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