New York Lawyer
March 12, 2002

Q:
I have been on a fellowship with a New York pro bono organization for the past 18 months. As this fellowship winds down, how can I translate this experience into what I think would be a great job for me: a law firm's pro bono coordinator?

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A:
Your first step -- I know, it�s the same old mantra -- is research and networking. In other words, you have to be able to answer the question, "What do you mean, 'pro bono coordinator?'" You need to scope out the marketplace -- or even whether there is a marketplace. How many firms have a pro bono coordinator as a specialized staff position (as opposed to saddling a junior or senior attorney with the responsibility)? Is the decision about whether to have a dedicated position keyed to firm size? If so, at what size or stage of development do firms typically flesh out specialized internal staff functions? Where this role does exist, does it tend to be combined with other projects and functions?

Next you want to research typical content of a firm's pro bono program: How large is its scope? What kinds of pro bono activities are supported? What is a typical budget? What are the criteria for lawyer participation -- optional or mandated? How robust is the program? (Does it expand or vanish in direct proportion to firm revenues? Is it integral to the firm's image or an incidental priority?) Are there any firms whose programs are models of effectiveness and efficiency?

Next you want to find out the practical dimensions of a pro bono coordinator's job -- and whether a single person handles program development, placements, internal logistics, evaluation, PR and marketing, annual tracking, alliance-building, etc. What skills, abilities and aptitudes does the job require? What are the typical criteria for selection? Does the role require legal training and background, or is it primarily an administrative and program management job?

Where do you go to get all these answers? Probably existing pro bono program managers and coordinators. Call a few up. Buy 'em some coffee. Ask what it's really like -- where the position leads, what it pays, what works and what doesn't, and their satisfactions and frustrations. This networking can lead to the entities and organizations that utilize pro bono legal assistance. Ask how planning and coordination are handled from their end. Ask who has great programs and who doesn�t. Arrange to meet the head of the pro bono subcommittee of your local and state bar association. Talk with the executive director of your local bar foundation. Visit the career placement office of your law school (if its in New York) � or, if not, of a major law school that is.

Once you are as focused as your research and networking can get you, compare what you've learned with the quality of the experience you gained in your fellowship. Do you get analogous experience or acquire skills that would be clearly transferable into a law firm staff setting? Are your achievements in the fellowship program powerful indicators of what skills, abilities and motivations you would bring to a pro bono coordinator job in a firm? If not, you need to think about what additional technical expertise or program management experience is necessary for you to make a powerful sell to a firm. Will it be necessary to acquire some additional administrative or programmatic training? Would it be worthwhile to explore local college or university programs in not-for-profit management?

At the point you feel you can make a powerful, point-for-point, skill-for-skill run at creating or filling a coordinator's job, your best route is to go back to networking -- not so much to gather information this time, but now to get as much face-to-face visibility as you can. I'm not a huge fan of mass mailings ("If you should have or anticipate an opening for�") because they are anonymous and they shoot blindly into the marketplace. Networking is where you find out what's happening, who's leaving, who's getting promoted, etc. To be sure, you may well find ads both in legal newspapers and in the local not-for-profit periodicals, and if the shoe fits, by all means apply.

It also strikes me that if this kind of role is attractive to you, you may want to talk to law schools about administration of their clinical programs. This can be a strong way to get experience, visibility and a practical sense of how to orchestrate a complex array of placements, programs and services

Sincerely,
Douglas B. Richardson
President, The Richardson Group