The growth of pro bono is one of the singular achievements of the modern bar. It is no longer simply a professional duty undertaken by individual lawyers, but an organized set of practices that leverage the resources of big and small firms alike in pursuit of equal justice. Its impact is enormous, with recent studies suggesting that pro bono lawyers provide at least one-third of all free services to poor clients. Yet the ascent of pro bono, and its critical importance in the American system of civil legal aid and public interest law, also asserts new challenges and presents distinct opportunities.

Pro bono's reliance on volunteerism and its relationship to the goals of private practice make it vulnerable to market fluctuations and client demands. In addition, the conventional conception of pro bono as free representation to clients unable to pay does not always capture the full range of practices that private lawyers undertake in advancing the public good.

Rethinking Pro Bono, a special conference sponsored by the UCLA School of Law's David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy and the Los Angeles Daily Journal, will bring together leading academics and lawyers to examine the promise and the pitfalls of the contemporary pro bono system. Participants will focus on rethinking the definition of pro bono, exploring innovative pro bono collaborations, and identifying methods of improving the scale and impact of pro bono services. Looking toward the future, the goal of the conference is both to highlight what works and to identify what more can be done in building a stronger pro bono system. Please join us on October 3, 2008 at UCLA School of Law.