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NEW YORK, NY May 11, 2004 — The Latin phrase "pro bono publico" refers to lawyers who work for free for the good of the public. Traditionally, lawyers have been encouraged to work "pro bono" by helping poor people who can't afford legal assistance. Now, the Bloomberg administration is getting private law firms to donate their time to defend the city. As WNYC's Beth Fertig reports, this program is causing debate within the legal profession.

Sixty-two year-old Carrie Anderson worked for the City Parks Department for 34 years. But Anderson - who is black - claims she was unable to get ahead.

ANDERSON: I was passed over for different positions. I filed for jobs that were posted and they were given to other people. People that were less qualified than I was. And they were all young, white yuppies.

Anderson is now one of 11 black and Hispanic, current and former Parks Department employees who filed a federal class action lawsuit, on behalf of some 2000 other workers, accusing the parks department of discrimination. A similar suit was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Anderson and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit are being represented by four law firms that specialize in civil rights cases. Last year, Anderson's attorneys were shocked to learn that the city was getting free assistance in its defense from two large law firms.

ROLLINGS: The problem here is they're calling it pro bono.

Cynthia Rollings is a partner at Beldock, Levine and Hoffman - one of the firms representing the plaintiffs suing the Parks Department.

ROLLINGS: Plaintiffs in these cases who are asserting civil rights are acting for the good of all of us. The city is defending in a situation like this. If you have to choose one side or another, the plaintiffs' side is the pro bono side. Not the city defending against these claims.

Private firms have a history of loaning out young associates to the city's law department to get experience. But they're usually assigned to so-called slip and fall cases brought by people suing the city - not complicated civil rights cases. The city's effort to recruit big law firms is considered the first of its kind. It also fits in with the Bloomberg Administration's blending of the public and private sectors.

In 2002 Mayor Bloomberg's new Corporation Counsel, Michael Cardozo, took over a law department facing 6 million dollars in budget cuts. So Cardozo, who used to head the city's bar association, began reaching out to the legal community. This speech he gave at a Pro Bono conference was recorded in June of 2002 by the State's Office of Court Administration.

CARDOZO: I can see that the following story stretches the definition of pro bono a little bit. I put out a S.O.S. to all law firms in the city. And I said the corporation counsel's office does not have enough lawyers and we cannot afford to hire more lawyers because of the fiscal problem.

Thirty-six law firms have stepped forward. Cardozo says they've donated 13 million dollars worth of legal assistance. When reached by telephone for comment he read a brief statement.

CARDOZO: This participation has enabled the city to litigate the large volume of cases it has while protecting the public treasury and city interests to the fullest. On the whole it allows private firms to support NYC in a very tangible way at a time when the city needs the help of all of its citizens.

Cardozo declined to answer questions. Nor would he provide a list of all the pro bono cases the firms have been working on. He did, however, say they include torts and tax cases in addition to lawsuits brought by people claiming to be victims of police brutality or discrimination. Representatives at some of the participating law firms tell WNYC civil rights cases seem to be the priority because they're so time consuming.

So the question remains: does helping the city defend itself against civil rights cases really meet the spirit of pro bono? Stephen Gillers is a professor of legal ethics at New York University's school of Law.

GILLERS: There are purists who will argue that it's not pro bono unless you're helping under-represented, unrepresented people who cannot afford lawyers. For others like the American Bar Association and its rule, working for government entities for free, although they can afford it, is pro bono.

Last month, in an effort to entice more lawyers to volunteer, the state's bar association voted to expand the definition of pro bono to also include civic and charitable work. The move was hotly debated within the legal community. But while Professor Gillers sees no philosophical problem, he does see one potential risk. The big law firms who defend the city, he says, are used to playing hardball.

GILLERS: The city cannot do what the mega law firms can do if they wish by way of excessive litigation, excessive discovery, delaying trial.

Public interest lawyers also worry about something else. If law firms spend more time helping the city, they fear that could result in fewer lawyers helping the poor.

LAWYER: Hello Legal Services Can I help you?

People who need lawyers but can't afford them often contact the Legal Services Corporation, which provides attorneys for free. At the Lower Manhattan office lawyers are flooded with phone calls by people seeking assistance in housing cases and other disputes. But more than 75 percent of them don't get full representation.

LAWYER: I understand but no one who calls here is in a position to hire a lawyer and the government does not pay for a lawyer for everyone who needs a lawyer.

Critics say it's wrong to encourage lawyers to spend their limited volunteer time defending the government. They note that New York City's law department has a budget of 30 million dollars and a staff of 650 lawyers - which is about the size of some of the biggest firms in the city. Andy Scherer, the executive director of Legal Services, says there are never enough lawyers to help the poor.

SCHERER: To give you some idea of it there are about 50,000 lawyers in New York City. There are - this is rough but I'd say maybe between five to seven hundred staff, paid public interest lawyers providing legal assistance to the poor. The poor population of New York City is around a quarter of the population, it's around 2 million people.

Gerry Rosenberg chairs the pro bono committee in the New York office of KMZ Rosenman, a private law firm with an extensive pro bono program.

ROSENBERG: You're right. That there is a displacement factor. That if this firm for example agreed to take on 8 cases for the city of New York and we did, maybe, maybe we took on fewer cases through legal aid or legal services in that time period. I can't measure that, I'm not sure that it's true. But despite the possibility that we perhaps took 1 or 2 fewer cases from legal services we thought it was appropriate to make sure the city could stay on its feet during this very difficult economic time.

Some see another potential conflict. The city also hires major law firms, and critics wonder if the ones that volunteer will have an advantage in obtaining lucrative contracts later. Gerry Rosenberg's firm, for example, is being paid to do a Medicaid audit for the city.

City officials say there's no link between volunteering and getting paid contracts. And representatives of KMZ Rosenman and other law firms helping the city deny any link, as well. If there's any self-interest to be served, they say, it's in recruiting good associates by offering them a chance to get more training on worthy causes.

At the law firm Quinn Emanuel in midtown, 29 year old Kevin Janus shows off the large stacks of paperwork piling up in his office.

KEVIN: One, two, three, four, five six, six stacks there.

Janus is helping the city defend itself against a case brought by prisoners claiming they were victims of excessive force. He says he's been taking depositions and getting more hands-on work than he would in regular business litigation.

JANUS: On bigger cases and at firms that train associates well you do a lot of watching a lot of learning a lot of helping. And sometimes you want to get in and do it yourself and this affords a fantastic opportunity to do it.

Next time around, Janus believes it's just as possible that he'll help a poor person who's suing the city. As he says, It's all public service to me. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.