# What percentage of lawyers do Zero Pro Bono work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 11, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-lawyers-do-zero-pro-bono-work/556742 "2010-10-11T02:23:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 17
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-lawyers-do-zero-pro-bono-work/556742/17 "2010-10-11T06:49:14Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > If I may ask a related question within the confines of GQ standards: > > Given the point **Rand Rover** has belabored in the Pit thread linked to in the OP, does any lawyer have quick access to figures, without wading through 51 sets of bar association standards and bar admission/license retention rules, to how many states mandate pro bono work (or the equivalent, as noted), as opposed to the loophole **RR** has brought up that, while stated as a professional responsibility in Illinois, it is not strictly _required_? Count a mandate one may be excused from (e.g., a lawyer recovering from traumatic injury would be excused) as one with a mandate. I think this information might be quite interesting. No state requires a lawyer to do pro bono work. Why the non-attorneys on this board have gotten that idea in their heads, I’ll never know. Like **RR** , I’m also beginning to resent the idea that attorneys alone among the professions are obligated to render these services for free. To tell you the truth, attorneys see our pro bono _aspirations_ (note the choice of words) as a matter of grace and _noblesse oblige_—not one of penance. Don’t make us think better of our generosity by getting greedy. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-lawyers-do-zero-pro-bono-work/556742)._