Dear Colleague:
New York County Lawyers' Association (NYCLA) is reaching out to ask you for 6 minutes of your time to provide input to a very important issue -- the 50 Hour Pro Bono Rule. If you are not the correct person in your firm to respond to this very important study, please forward this email, with our thanks, along to someone who can respond.
You are no doubt aware that commencing on January 1, 2015, New York will require most applicants for admission to the bar to provide evidence that they have completed at least 50 hours of qualifying pro bono work. (A more complete description of this requirement can be found here.)
Since the rule's announcement, NYCLA has been working to try to help ensure its smooth implementation. Toward this end, we have been investigating both (a) the potential impact of the rule on various segments of the bar, and (b) the ways in which each such segment can benefit from – or at the very least absorb – that impact.
As part of this project, we have designed a VERY brief survey of law firms and private sector in-house legal departments, which we are asking you to complete on behalf of your organization. We hope to be able to use the data generated by this survey both (a) to determine what impact (if any) the new requirement has had or will have on such organizations; and (b) as a resource of ideas, approaches and "best practices." The information we gather will be shared only on an aggregate basis, without specific feedback attributed to the individual responder.
The survey should take no more than 6 minutes to complete. Your input will help us perform what we hope will be a service to the bar as it adjusts to the new rule.
You can begin the survey by clicking here.
Thank you for taking the time to help us. If you have any questions about accessing the survey, please contact Toni Valenti at 212 267.6646 ext. 210 or tvalenti@nycla.org.
With much appreciation,
Catherine Christian
Chair of the NYCLA President's Task Force on MEETING THE CHALLENGE: THE 50-HOUR RULE