# Pro bono bullshit **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 9, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132 "2010-09-09T02:43:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/441 "2010-09-13T23:27:34Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > Trust me, it always helps to have an attorney, even a pro se lawyer that _may or may not_ be available once your case reached the docket. I don’t think you mean ‘pro se.’ ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/442 "2010-09-13T23:31:15Z")
Yes, I did. I just should have noted that in the Brooklyn Housing Court that I’ve had tenant-side experience with, instructions to see _and_ the room that houses those attorneys who give people guidance to represent themselves used the phrase “Pro Se Attorneys.” But they are whom I was referring to by “may or may not be available;” you can wait to consult them, but depending on the backlog they may not be able to see you or will give you seriously short shrift in terms of time and help. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/443 "2010-09-14T00:49:44Z")
That’s a good example of how there is English, and then there is Brooklynese, for a pro se attorney is a contradiction in terms. I can see how the phrase came about: it is easier to say “pro se attorney” than to say “an attorney from whom pro se litigants may obtain cursory legal advice free of charge.” ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/444 "2010-09-14T00:54:01Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > That’s a good example of how there is English, and then there is Brooklynese, for a pro se attorney is a contradiction in terms. I can see how the phrase came about: it is easier to say “pro se attorney” than to say “an attorney from whom pro se litigants may obtain cursory legal advice free of charge.” It’s still easier to say, “Duty counsel.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/445 "2010-09-14T00:56:47Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > It’s still easier to say, “Duty counsel.” > > 🙂 ACK!!! FLASHBACK!!! I tried that intermittently for a few months when I was young and didn’t know better. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/446 "2010-09-14T00:58:02Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I can see how the phrase came about: it is easier to say “pro se attorney” than to say “an attorney from whom pro se litigants may obtain cursory legal advice free of charge.” > [@Spoons](#): > > It’s still easier to say, “Duty counsel.”🙂 Waddayese, wantin’ me to take a beatin’? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/447 "2010-09-14T01:19:13Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > ACK!!! FLASHBACK!!! > > I tried that intermittently for a few months when I was young and didn’t know better. Talk to me. I’ve been considering it, as a way to do some _pro bono_ work, and still remain known to the sheriffs at the courthouse so I don’t have to dig for my Law Society membership card in order to bypass the security check. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/448 "2010-09-14T19:35:18Z")
My pro-bono activity shriveled to nothing when my son was born so I can kinda sorta understand the OP a little bit but I would hate for my son to be the reason for something like that, so I donate more money to legal aid and the invite for his first birthday has a link to oxfam for any gifts people want to bring. I like the idea that somebody somewhere is a little better off because my son didn’t get yet ANOTHER Ralph Lauren baby outfit. Besides, my friends really dig buying goats on the internet. People still bring gifts but noone feels the need to hit a dollar threshhold anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/449 "2010-09-14T19:41:57Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > My pro-bono activity shriveled to nothing when my son was born Y’know, your wife is still a sexual being, she’s not _just_ somebody’s mother. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/450 "2010-09-14T19:46:52Z")
Just actually picked up another couple of matters - an amicus brief for a disability rights group re integration of mentally challenged into the community and a police misconduct matter. That’s probably enough for the year. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/451 "2010-09-14T20:42:09Z")
> [@Captain\_Midnight](#): > > 2.) Do you object to the people that you do pro bono work for? White trash, ghetto people, dirty, smelly people you would never freely associate with? Pro Bono is basically charity work. Even then, if the company pays you the same salary, isn’t it good to help a poor person? But what if the poor person is _gasp!_ gay? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/452 "2010-09-14T21:37:37Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Just actually picked up another couple of matters - an amicus brief for a disability rights group re integration of mentally challenged into the community and a police misconduct matter. Watch out! You’re going to get beaten up by a gang of 'tards and then tasered by some pigs. \*\*Rand Rover \*\*knows–he’s heard about this sort of thing, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/453 "2010-09-15T00:35:14Z")
Ah, Page 10. I was beginning to think I’d lost my touch, but here we are. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/454 "2010-09-15T00:49:47Z")
Everybody is good at something. It’s nice to know you finally found yours. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/455 "2010-09-15T12:51:06Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Besides, my friends really dig buying goats on the internet. You know, I know what you mean with the Oxfam shop (their slogan over here is “EinZIEGartige Geschenke”, which is a pune or play on words) - but in the age of goatsex, I _think_ you should have phrased that a bit … different. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/456 "2010-09-15T13:03:56Z")
You have a problem with lawyers having goat sex? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/457 "2010-09-15T13:11:43Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > You have a problem with lawyers having goat sex? Yeah, why are the goats being punished? ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/458 "2010-09-15T13:27:47Z")
Wait, we are in “the age of goat sex”? I don’t remember seeing that on my Chinese restaurant placemat. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/459 "2010-09-15T13:36:03Z")
Surprised this has gotten such a response. Does anyone actually think it would be a good idea for Rand Rover to work for them _pro bono_? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132/460 "2010-09-15T14:34:54Z")
Work for goats? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-bono-bullshit/553132.md?page=24)