I had a long, based-on-a-true-story post typed out, but since you’re not going to read it (and even if you did, you’ll either ignore it or weasel around it), I’m going to give you the edited highlights version instead.
Some years ago there was a law firm here in Australia engaging in behaviour that was not technically against the rules, but was most definitely not to the professional standards that lawyers are expected to uphold and conduct themselves with. A disaffected client went to the media about the firm, and the mother of all media shitstorms blew up. It was a PR nightmare for the Legal Profession, who were being tarred and feathered in the media, and they had to act.
Suffice it to say that The Rules were changed to expressly forbid the sort of thing this firm had been doing, and make it very clear where the line between Acceptable and Not Acceptable was on the issue. Further, the firm involved no longer exists and the lawyers responsible for the unacceptable practices got in a lot of very serious trouble.
Now, the issue involved here was far more serious than an article clerk thumbing their nose at the idea of Pro Bono, but the point I’m making is that if you were to go to your Bar Association and say “I, Rand Rover, Lawyer, do hereby declare that Pro Bono work is complete bullshit and lawyers should not be expected to engage in it, and further I refuse to do it because [insert manifesto here]”, the least they’re likely to do is write you a sternly worded letter reminding you that Pro Bono work is expected of lawyers because [see everyone else’s responses in this thread, but in a more formal tone].
When I say it’s only going to get worse from there, I mean that if a hypothetical colleague of yours with a hypothetical professional grudge against you (maybe because he thought he deserved the Widget case, or whatever) might happen to be having a few drinks with a friend of his who happens to be a journalist, and mention how there’s this guy at his work who not only refuses to do pro bono but thinks that people who might want pro bono are smelly druggies or rednecks or unworthy peasants or whatever, then it doesn’t take a lot of effort for a journalist to do some searching and find out that- shock, horror! many lawyers do no pro bono at all. Do [apparently large percentage] of lawyers disdain the people who made need their help most of all? [Stories about worthy community groups folding because of massive legal bills or lack of access to legal services].
Against that background, the bar association’s response might be somewhat less “Formal Letter”-y and more “Word in the ear of the Senior Partners of the State’s biggest Law Firms” to suggest they make Pro Bono (or a donation) as “non-optional” as possible.
And eventually someone’s going to remember the guy in the office down the hall who rants about how much he hates pro bono and thinks the people who want/need it are smelly unworthies, and that person (which may or may not be you, as I’m sure there are other lawyers with the same views who at least have the good sense not to espouse them on internet messageboards comprised almost entirely of non-lawyers) and that person is quite likely to find their career mysteriously stalled.
More importantly, once you’ve been advised by the Bar Association that “Really, old chum, you have to at least try and do Pro Bono, can’t you just write some form letters for a local sports club to help sort out that insurance issue? There’s a good chap” if your Pro Bono reports for the next year or so still continue to show “Zero Hours” then one might reasonably expect the Senior Partners to want to have a Very Serious Chat about it.
Or, maybe nothing will happen. But I’ve worked in the corporate world long enough to know that’s not likely to the be the case. When The People In Charge tell you they want something done, you’d better have an outstandingly good reason for not doing it. And “But I Don’t Want To!” doesn’t usually count, unfortunately.
So all of that is basically the support for my assertion that, were you to openly declare to your Bar Association (or Managing Partners) that you absolutely refuse to do Pro Bono for the reasons you’ve outlined at length throughout this thread, the least that would happen is a Formal Letter advising you of the expectation that lawyers will at least try to engage in some Pro Bono work.
