[ News Article ]
Duane Morris Creates Pro Bono Counsel Position
By Gina Passarella
October 26, 2005
The Legal Intelligencer
Duane Morris has taken another step to increase its pro bono effort, creating a new position of pro bono counsel.
Nicole Friant will solely oversee the firmwide commitment to pro bono work, and will not participate in any paid cases of her own.
Friant was a former associate at Duane Morris and member of its environmental practice group. She left the firm for just five months to pursue public interest work at the Green Restaurant Group when Duane Morris contacted her about running the new position, she said.
Friant has always had an interest in pro bono work, particularly work involving the environment and children advocacy, she said.
That was part of the reason she became a lawyer.
"Firms give an outlet to work and foster those interests," she said.
Friant left firm life to dedicate her career solely to public interest work, not because she did not enjoy practicing law, she said.
So when this opportunity came Friant said she was "incredibly excited" that she would still be able to focus on serving the public.
Aside from her administrative duties, Friant will also take on her own pro bono work, and said she will have a continued relationship with the Green Restaurant Group.
Friant said Duane Morris has always been committed to pro bono work, but did not have the available resources.
"Our recent growth has enabled the firm to take that step forward," she said.
The last step the firm took in promoting pro bono work was to offer a 50-billable- hours credit to attorneys who do pro bono work.
Friant said she hopes to make sure each attorney is taking advantage of at least those 50 hours.
One of her administrative duties will be to pair up attorneys with pro bono work that fits their interests, she said.
"My main goal is essentially to make it easy for people to do pro bono work," Friant said.
She said that in 2004 the pro bono hours accumulated by the firm's 600 attorneys equaled about 5,200 hours. That equates to a little over eight hours per attorney.
In an effort to increase those numbers, Friant said she plans to meet with the heads of practice groups to create a commitment to pro bono work within each of the firm's practice areas.
In 2003, Duane Morris created a pro bono committee that focused on increasing its charitable work. It was in 2004 that they added the credit of 50 billable hours. Between those two years, the number of pro bono hours doubled, according to a statement by the firm.
This article originally appeared in The Legal Intelligencer and is republished here with permission from law.com.