Should Ability to Pay Have Anything to do with Pro Bono Work?
In a former life, I did a lot of coverage on Michael Bloomberg’s controversial “congestion pricing” plan for New York City. If you spend any length of time with transit policy — and don’t otherwise have a life — you’re going to find transit policy fascinating. It touches on law, politics, the environment and city planning.
It looks like Sidley Austin attorneys are getting a taste of this great work. The firm is working on behalf of a town which is trying to stop Washington, D.C.’s proposed “Purple Line.” I won’t bother you with the ins and outs of the Purple Line project (light rail versus buses!). But it’s particularly interesting that Sidley is representing the town of Chevy Chase, and the firm is working pro-bono.
When you think of disadvantaged clients in need of free legal services, you don’t really think of the well-to-do town of Chevy Chase do you? According to a press release from Action Committee for Transit:
The town has also engaged the nationally prominent law firm Sidley Austin to represent it in the transit dispute. Sidley Austin has submitted to the Maryland Transit Administration an extensive request for information, much of which duplicates an informal request previously submitted by Columbia Country Club.At present, the town’s lawyers are working “pro bono”—without payment. However,
Sidley Austin’s web site states that the firm’s pro bono work is done “to provide legal services to the poor and to charitable, religious, community, governmental and educational organizations that otherwise would be unable to afford legal representation.” The town can easily afford to pay for legal services. Its most recent financial statement shows it has $4.4 million tucked away in the bank—more than its entire annual budget of $3 million.
In these tough economic times, maybe the firm shouldn’t be giving away services for free when the client could pay? But it’s important to remember that pro bono work isn’t just about work a client can pay, it’s also about doing work that nobody will pay for.
Does Chevy Chase fit into that broader category? More after the jump.
One argument is that neither Chevy Chase nor any town would pay to defend itself against a potential light rail even if it’s a bad idea. There is a collective action problem. However Chevy Chase seems to have moved beyond game theory 101:
In the space of 12 months, the town has paid New York transportation consultant Sam Schwartz PLLC $374,000 to promote its anti-light rail efforts. This comes to more than $300 for each household residing in the town.
I guess collective action isn’t so much of a problem when property values are on the line.
Maybe Sidley is just engaging in a general campaign against the scourge of light rails and metropolitan sprawl? At this point, all the firm has done is comment on the environmental impact study regarding the Purple Line.
The firm thinks that the Action Committee for Transit is making a big deal about a small point. A Sidley spokesperson furnished us with this statement:
The firm has a long practice of representing cities and municipalities on a pro bono basis. The town of Chevy Chase contacted Sidley to see if the firm would help. The project went through the normal vetting process and was signed off on by the pro bono committee.
Firms usually don’t get criticized for doing pro bono work. But in the rough and tumble world of mass transportation, the normal rules of engagement do not apply!
What is the Purple Line? Why do we need it? [Action Committee for Transit]
Purple Line Impact on Trail [Save the Trail]
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Comments
My guess is a big name partner lives there and doesn't want the light rail in his town.
First
MYSTAL = ham burglar "robble robble robble !"
Too fattening, didn't read.
Keeping public transit out of rich suburbs = pretty noble.
Maybe when Sidley stops screwing over its associates when counting pro bono time for bonus purposes, then it should be able to take on rich pro bono clients. In the meantime, there is not enough paying work around to keep all associates busy. Someone dropped the ball here.
Also, there is something morally odd about representing one of the richest communities in the county in an action against light rail, which is less polluting than buses and makes it easier for people to travel from poorer places - like Prince George's County and eastern Montgomery County to their jobs in the wealthier Western Montgomery County.
Shit like only prolongs traffic congestion in the DC-area.
@1 Nailed It...that's exactly the situation.
Shit like this only prolongs traffic congestion in the DC-area.
I'd consider it legal work done gratis, but I wouldn't consider it pro bono. This isn't a group of people in need and it's not something that enhances the broader community or anything like that.
Doing pro bono like this will get everyone in the well-to-do community of Chevy Chase familiar with the firm's name and how their representation (potentially) benefited them. Not to mention national exposure in places such as this blog. I see this as good for marketing and generating new business.
"it's important to remember that pro bono work isn't just about work a client can pay, it's also about doing work that nobody will pay for. "
Do tell. Any further thoughts to share on this, or did you just pull this snappy soundbite out of your hindquarters?
I feel like pro-bono would be fighting FOR the expanded light rail.
DC is one of the few cities in the US with the sense to have a decent rail system so you don't have to drive everyplace; this should be encouraged.
I really thought Lat or Kash wrote this.
Good job MysTTTal!
The town has a traffic speeding camera that rakes in about $1.2 million a year. They can afford the representation. Its classic NIMBYISM.
http://www.sierraclub.org/dc/sprawl/purple-line/
Purple line looks like a good idea.
Who taught you to write?
"If you spend any length of time with transit policy [ ]you're going to find transit policy fascinating."
The high esteem in which I once held this site continues to decline.
Hmmm, support some rich people in avoiding trains that bring "rif-raff" into Chevy Chase v. support measures to limit congestion on the Beltway and improve QoL for the community at large.
Sounds like a solid case for rendering free legal service to the rich folks to me!
For once, the first comment is useful, and clearly accurate.
It's crazy to me that Sidley, which I (rightly or wrongly) perceive as a left-leaning Dem law firm, wants to fight public transportation, which is not only necessary for the poorer among us to get around but would take some cars off the road as well, with obvious positive environmental effects.
DC has a shitty rail system. It's decent (but expensive) inside the city, but provides poor access to the suburbs. Given how much people from the suburbs commute to the city here, that's a pretty big failing.
http://www.sierraclub.org/dc/sprawl/purple-line/
Purple line looks like a good idea.
18: I'm sure they'll spin it as something environmental. Pathetic.
This has nothing to do with the legal argument, but the purple line makes no sense from a fiscal perspective. The DC metro loses huge amounts of money already and the Purple line would be by far the least used line and by far the longest. There are a few places where it would be helpful, like connecting the two ends of the red line to eachother and putting Tyson's Corner on the metro, but that hardly justifies the enormous expense of putting it in all the way around the beltway.
10-1 says that if they prevail on anything in a suit, Sidley stops talking "pro bono" and starts asking to be awarded fees.
Pro bono is for the public good. It's not legal aid. If Sidley believes that it is acting for the public good in the lawsuit, then it is appropriate pro bono work.
Pro bono is for the public good. It's not legal aid. If Sidley believes that it is acting for the public good in the lawsuit, then it is appropriate pro bono work.
If the Purple line is to be a transit line to link the Blue, Green, Orange, Red, and Yellow lines why is it called the "Purple line? Mixing only red and blue = purple. The proposed mixture of the colors Blue, Green, Orange, Red, and Yellow would not result in an attractive color or name. Maybe they should just call it the circle line as it circles the city?
Sidley Austin sucks. Who in their right mind would see representing one of DC's wealthiest suburbs against a public transit line as a worthy cause for pro bono?
Ridiculous. Nice catch on this. Classic NIMBY bullshit. They will hang the project up for years over professed concern with how train vibrations will upset the snail dart.
Wow, this is pretty egregious. What is Sidley thinking?
partners saving their backyards
partners saving their backyards
#1 is correct. When I summered at Covington DC, a partner there got the firm to provide pro bono legal services (read: associate and summer associate labor) to help him in a dispute with a neighbor over a freaking swimming pool in their ritzy MD neighborhood. Apparently he convinced the pro bono committee that the dispute involved "novel" areas of MD property law. Really.
BTW, that partner? The illustrious David Remes, who subsequently made his name defending Gitmo detainees until he left the firm after literally dropping his pants at a press conference.
Just goes to show you that even the most liberal Dems out there suddenly they become hard-nosed conservatives when their own property is on the line.
25: I don't see pro bono publico as that subjective a determination. Moreover, I don't see how insulating a tony enclave from public transit serves the public good, unless your notion of "public" includes rich white people.
NIMBY unless the coloreds ride in the back of the train.
Would've been nice of Elie had looked up whether number 1 is corrected and put that in the story. Which Sidley partners live in Chevy Chase?
9s right. They are giving work away, But this doesn't seem to fit the definition of pro bono. At least not in Illinois where Sidley is headquarted. The main thrust of the pro bono guidelines here is providing access to the legal system to those who cannot afford it.
#10 is correct, too. The firm calculated the revenue hit from doing the work for free, balanced it against the benefits from positive word-of-mouth in a well-to-do neighborhood, and decided it was worth it. Sounds like a pretty good business decision to me.
This is really no different than the standard practice of firms giving discount pricing to certain clients in order to maintain their business or brag about their client list during recruiting, marketing, etc. Here, the price is zero. Many other representations you don't hear about might be that amount or just a little higher.
BTW, it's no secret that most firms' "real" pro bono work also has a marketing component behind it -- they know it garners them positive public relations, including with law school applicants. So let's not pretend like even the most "worthy" pro bono is all done for completely altruistic reasons.
22 -- Public transit systems rarely if ever make money back. That's why they're public. Do water systems ever make their money back?
This is just a classic case of NIMBYism. Sad that Sidley is siding with rich NIMBYs. Seems like the public good would be on the side of the purple line.
The irony of this for me largely centers on the damn Columbia Country Club. The purple line will go right through its golf course. So of course they hate the idea. Of course they want to forget that trains (heavy, noisy freight trains) used to run through there and that the purple line will be built on the old train right of way. Not like they built the country club expecting no train traffic.
#33:
I have never heard of a notion of "public" that does not include "rich white people"
39: It's more a matter of the definition of "public" being restricted solely to "rich white people." 37: The firm is entitled to give whatever discounts it wishes to. It is not, however, entitled to pass it off as pro bono when it's really just a favor.
Sidley can do whatever it wants.
But the Purple Line debate is one of the greatest examples of lefty hypocrisy there is (most residents of Bethesday/CC are rich libs -- they are all for empowering the lower classes, so long as it doesn't bring those classes to western Montgomery county -- they are also all for mass transit, unless it affects their community).
Answer to # 35: Paul Moates.
33, are "public" schools supposed to exclude rich white people? what about publicly-owned corporations? public universities? museums open to the public?
Do you even know how to speak English?
Aren't we all going to ride unicorns to work after January 20th, 2009 anyway?
Rich towns and townspeople all over the country pay attorneys to fight the government because they don't like land use policies. There is no way this should be considered pro bono work. How sad that the firm is choosing to lend its talented associates to this type of project when there are so many more worthy causes in the area.
""it's important to remember that pro bono work isn't just about work a client can pay, it's also about doing work that nobody will pay for."
Funny, I thought that pro bono work was about positive PR for the firm, providing associates with experience, and getting favorable tax treatment?
So Chevy Chase is doing what Georgetown pulled off all those years ago. Gotta love it when rich white people feel threatened by inner city riff-raff. Kinda interesting cuz the Red Line already cuts through portions of CC and Bethesda.
I think this is good on Sidley, a valid use of pro bono as it will keep crime down. Have any of you been to PG county? Chevy Chase has no crime. PG has crime in every corner. If keeping your kids safe isn't a valid use of pro bono, what is?
Anyways the purple line is a trash line, an absolute waste of money. Why should Montgomery County pay for a slow streetcar line to a place no one wants to go (PG) when its schools are losing funding?
"So Chevy Chase is doing what Georgetown pulled off all those years ago. Gotta love it when rich white people feel threatened by inner city riff-raff. Kinda interesting cuz the Red Line already cuts through portions of CC and Bethesda."
True, but if you look at the metro map, the red line goes through the richest parts of the DC area on that side. It brings in "rifraff" from Potomac/North Bethesda, Rockville, Friendship Heights, Woodley Park etc.
The purple line would connect Silver Spring and Prince George's County - the bulk of the hispanic and black people in Montgomery County live in the easter part (Silver Spring, Wheaton) and PG County is overwhelmingly black.
Nice job by Elie. Commenter No. 1 seems right. Probably some partner assigns the matter to an associate to work on, and he becomes a hero.
38 - Simply because it happens to provides public transportation for someone does not mean that it makes sense to build it no matter the cost. Or were you one of those people who thought the "bridge to nowhere" was a good idea?
47: the red line doesn't go to PG. End of story.
Most pro bono efforts by big law firms do serve progressive causes but usually tackle small, discrete legal problems for an individual, disadvantaged client. This kind of work serves the public interest by delivering quality legal services to disadvantaged individuals.
However, such big law firms are loath to devote any effort to the larger systemic problems that are at the root of their pro bono clients' relative disadvantage. Doing so would usually run counter to the interests of their paying clients.
For other DC associates who hate Metro, check out this great "fantasy" metro map. If only . . .
22: I'm not sure what it matters to this argument that the D.C. metro loses huge amounts of money. It has separate (and larger) funding problems. Cost/benefit of this purple line would require a fairly sophisticated evaluation of development and operating costs (versus long term costs of running buses and widening roads to accomodate more cars as the congestion in the area worsens), environmental benefits and drawbacks, and various other factors. I'm sure both sides in this debate have done such research. So, I'm not persuade by your say-so about the "tremendous expense" of this project versus the expense inherent in the alternative transportation option. Also, despite the graphic, the link in the article doesn't show the purple line going all the way around at all. But I'm also pretty sure there's a good bit of commuting from NoVa to Maryland. And isn't the massive massive DHS apparatus supposed to be moving to St. Elizabeth's or something like that? Again, I bet there are statistics on ridership from both sides, but not impressed with your say-so on how useful any segments would be.
Most pro bono efforts by big law firms do serve progressive causes but usually tackle small, discrete legal problems for an individual, disadvantaged client. This kind of work serves the public interest by delivering quality legal services to disadvantaged individuals.
However, such big law firms are loath to devote any effort to the larger systemic problems that are at the root of their pro bono clients' relative disadvantage. Doing so would usually run counter to the interests of their paying clients.
For other DC associates who hate Metro, check out this great "fantasy" metro map. If only . . .
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=627
44 made me laugh.
Yay! Unicorns!
But don't forget that you won't actually have to work anymore since the government will give you everything you want for free while lowering taxes. Work will just be something that we do so that we don't get bored. It is going to be fun.
54, who gives a shit whose say-so you are impressed by?
-not 22
57,
Who gives a shit whether you give a shit...
58,
Who gives a shit whether you give a shit whether 57 give a shit...
Etc.
cnn.com is reporting that Eric Holder sued Taco Bell in 1987 after finding feces in a taco.
as a person who lives in Bethesda, this is total bullshit.
Boohooo. Sidley partner doesn't want light rail close to his beloved, racist, and (until recently), anti-semitic country club.
But calling this pro-bono? that's just lame.
Dude, so many of the partners and their wealthy clients live in Chevy Chase. It's like Georgetown. If there was good public transportation through it (like a metro stop) then poors could come through any time they felt like it. Screw all the middle class schmoes who have to commute around the place to get to DC.
37, your comments on the marketing value of pro bono work are all correct. But giving work away for free or at deep discounts does not, by itself, make that work a pro bono representation. This is just another non-billable project.
Chevy Chase doesn't need a public transit system. He stopped being funny years ago.
Thanks for the link, 55. If only...
Which came first, the city or the comedian?
65-
The Battle of Chevoit Hills came first.
Why is Chevy Chase threatened by the Purple Line while wealthy towns in Southern Connecticut thrive by being on the New Heaven line?
51 -- Whatever. -38.
Big Firms care about:
1. Money; and
2. er......that's it.
Pro Bono is just a marketing tool for Biglaw to make more $$$$$$$.
They don't actually give a shit about pro bono clients.
As has been pointed out, some Sidely partners must live in Chevy Chase. Georgetown was succesful in stopping the subway coming to their area years ago and keeping the rif raff out. Same thing here.
This pro-bono project is worth a lot more than the flood of dumb-shit projects that firms usually try to push.
No other business just gives away so much of their product. Microsoft doesn't lean on its people to program for some idiotic non-profit that wants to play classical music to hoodlums in North Philly. This might actually generate some good will with people who actually have the cash to hire the firm. It is the closest thing to a smart pro bono project that I have heard of.
But, in the end, I don't care. Since I am neither gay, a summer associate, nor a communist, I don't do pro bono work.
Meanwhle, right here in the DC area, women can't get protective orders to protect them from abusive husbands because they can't afford a lawyer. People are being evicted because they can't afford a lawyer to fight the eviction. People are having their credit messed with by unscrupulous companies because they can't afford attorneys. But, hey, let's let rich Chevy Chase fight to keep what was bought as a public transport right of way stay a personal running trail.
18 - It's what's called a "B-CC Liberal" aka Limousine Liberal.
But who could blame them; why spend all that money to get away from the "undesirables" when one can hop on the Metro at Silver Spring and be in Bethesda in 5 minutes.
32 - The former Covington partner of which you speak lives in Silver Spring, not Chevy Chase. While very nice, it's hardly a "tony" suburb.
The real person that should be pissed is the Town's regular lawyer: http://www.steinsperling.com/lawyerDetails.asp?lid=60 Think of all of the work he is missing out on...
Seems to me that the Town of Chevy Chase has been hijacked by a select few. The right of way only runs along the edge of the town, and will not stop near the Town of Chevy Chase (at which stop it might let off the riff-raff) so the purple line is only going to affect a small percentage of TCC residents. Anyone who has lived there long enough knows that trains used to run along those tracks with some regularity. Anyone who has bought since then is a moron if they didn't know it was a right of way that was purchased by Montgomery County just for this purpose. The real affected party is the Columbia Country Club. My guess is that some of the folks in the town leadership like to play golf at Columbia Country Club and they don't want to see their lovely golf course interrupted by train traffic. So they've taken up the cause as their own. Can't believe Sidley's pro bono project is protecting golf courses for the rich.
Stupid article, who cares. This is never going to happen, anyway. There's a lot of money in NoVA, but it all gets siphoned off to Richmond. And Maryland, forget that shithole, they have no money as a state. So who is going to pay for this? They've been talking about it for years and gotten nowhere; plus, actually building the fucking thing would take about 20 years. Who cares.
67: That's actually a really good question. I think people in the Northeast overall have a different mentality about taking public transportation.
67: That's actually a really good question. I think people in the Northeast overall have a different mentality about taking public transportation.
I worked at a v20 firm in DC where a partner was representing the Georgetown Neighborhood Association "pro bono." Yeah, like representing your millionaire neighbors is doing real good for the world.
14: Actually Chevy Chase Village has the camera, not the Town of Chevy Chase. The proposed rail line goes no where near the Village.
By the way, 61 and and 69, there's no factual basis behind the urban legend that Georgetown residents tried to prevent a metro stop in the area to keep out the riffraff...metro never seriously considered stops there because there weren't that many people commuting to the area, and because the geology of the area would've required building a very steep tunnel through bedrock and underwater to connect to the Rosslyn station.
Interestingly, the one area that did successfully prevent a metro stop was a largely African-American community in Northeast DC, kind of between the Stadium-Armory and NY ave stops. They were worried that gentrification would displace them. They obviously prevented that!
The book The Great Society Subway has a lot more info on this sort of thing.
--nitpicker
Background: CC Town resident, chair of the Long Range Planning Committee (how arrogant is that?). and NIMBY activist is married to a partner at Sidley. The section of Trail in question is a one mile stretch bordering the Town; first third is high rise canyon, second third is neighborhood backyards, third third bisects the Country Club. Town has gamed Trail enthusiasts that the Purple Line is tantamount to rain forest destruction. Meanwhile, that mile right of way was purchased by the County years ago for, duh, commuter rail.
Sigh.
This posting substituted character assassination for analysis. Reasonable minds may come to different conclusions about the Purple Line. But much of this post was taken from a press release issued by a developer front group.
First, contrary to your claim, the Town does not oppose the Purple Line. The State is studying six versions of the Purple Line, and the Town is championing the alternative that uses bus rapid transit (BRT) and provides service to the NIH campus via Jones Bridge Road. Why? Because this BRT alternative will cost $1 billion less to build, it is the only version that provides direct service to the fastest growing employment center in Bethesda, the NIH campus, and it is by far the least environmentally destructive approach. Contrary to a common misperception, BRT is cleaner than light rail – the State's own analysis says so. And light rail will destroy up to 17 acres of trees along the Capital Crescent Trail, one of the country's most popular hiker/biker trails in the country. These trees will be permanently removed from the Rock Creek watershed, an area of ongoing state and federal environmental concern where the State is currently replanting trees.
The Chevy Chase Land Company stands to gain in hundreds of millions of dollars in development rights if the light rail goes through where it wants it. No wonder it is spending for a slick paid media operation to promote its preferences. Spending $1 billion more to advance the interests of a wealthy developer who wants to kill a park isn't progressive in my book.
Most hilarious is the idea that this town of 1000 people can easily afford to pay the attorneys. The cost of getting attorneys to do the work described for pay would dwarf that of the consultants.
Oh boy, it looks like the Town's PR folks have found this blog post. See #81's response -- smells like an "official" response to me, albeit via an anonymous blog comment.
Oh boy, it looks like the Town's PR folks have found this blog post. See #81's response -- smells like an "official" response to me, albeit via an anonymous blog comment.
Oh boy, it looks like the Town's PR folks have found this blog post. See #81's response -- smells like an "official" response to me, albeit via an anonymous blog comment.