NY Bar to require 50 hours pro bono service for professional license

Law students taking the bar in New York next year will be required to do 50 hours of pro bono work as a condition of their license to practice. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, who introduced the change last week, pointed out that around 10,000 people pass the New York Bar Exam annually, and this pro bono requiremenr means about half a million hours of free legal work yearly, which will help fill “the justice gap” for the poor, working poor “and what has recently been described as the near poor”.

NY Bar to require 50 hours pro bono service for professional license blogs.wsj.com Wed, May 9, 2012