Pro Bono

Reader comment on: Lawyers for Homeless Panhandlers Rack Up $1.5 million in Fees
in response to reader comment: doen't "pro bono" mean no charge?

Submitted by No One (United States), Jan 21, 2016 21:42

Yes, pro bono is supposedly free, but if there is fee shifting, then law firms will usually try to get fees. There are some law firms that do "pro bono" work representing clients specifically in cases where clients would otherwise have contigent fee agreesment or the firms will only do "pro bono" cases where the cause of action allows the fee shifting or recovery (e.g. discrimination cases). If they win, they will try to get fees and costs, meaning the client is in almost the exact same position regardless of whether the firm took the case as "pro bono" or as a regular client. I use the term "phony bono" when law firms exclusively limit their "pro bono" work to actions where they can recover fees and costs from defendants.

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