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The legal profession's beautiful myth: surveying the justifications for the lawyer's obligation to perform pro bono work

This article considers some of the substantive and normative claims underlying the performance of pro bono work by lawyers – that lawyers have always done pro bono work and that it is an essential element of what it means to be a lawyer. Following a brief survey of global pro bono activity, the article considers some of the drivers for pro bono work. It identifies three main streams of thought regarding the obligation to perform pro bono work, characterised as the historical arguments, the public service argument, and the ‘lawyer as gatekeeper’ or monopoly argument. Following an analysis of each position, the article concludes that while the historical evidence for a pro bono tradition is not strong, and that the public service and monopoly arguments are open to dispute, there is nonetheless a very strong ‘mythical’ force associated with pro bono work. Its power may thus lie as much in its ability to motivate altruism among lawyers, as it does in any historical or theoretical basis.