BigLaw + Law School = Collaborative, Nonprofit Law Firm

The Georgetown University Law Center, pictured, has partnered with Arent Fox and DLA Piper to form a nonprofit law firm accessible to lower income clients in an effort to make the law more accessible to those in need of legal assistance. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini

 

I am intrigued by the collaboration of my law school alma mater, Georgetown University Law Center, and two for-profit law firms that, together, have launched a “low bono” nonprofit law firm intended for clients whose incomes are between 200 and 400 percent above the poverty line. Part of an industry-wide awareness that the law needs to become more accessible to many people who cannot afford legal fees at standard rates, but who typically don’t qualify for free representation through legal aid organizations, the initiative pairs Georgetown with two BigLaw firms, Arent Fox and DLA Piper. It will be staffed by LL.M fellows at Georgetown with BigLaw lawyers training and supervising on a pro bono basis. Even more interesting is that leadership of the newly formed organization, the D.C. Affordable Law Firm, is looking to include nonlawyers as well in some way. It’s an exciting path given the realization that not only does the law need to be more accessible, but law does not operate in a silo; it overlaps with business, social needs, and so on—so why not make different types of professionals more accessible, too?

This sort of law school/law firm collaboration could become a trend. After the Georgetown/Arent Fox/DLA Piper initiative was announced, a number of New York law firms, the City University of New York School of Law, and the New York City Bar Association disclosed another “low bono” collaboration called Court Square that will also feature legal fellows working for clients of modest income under the mentorship of lawyers. These fellows will also be learning how to run a small law practice.

Exciting times in the legal industry, indeed.

—Lori Tripoli

Interested in how the legal industry is evolving? You might like these posts:

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The Versatility of a J.D.

I was heartened to see that the cover subject of the most recent edition of my law school’s alumni magazine is someone who pursued an alternative path. Savannah Guthrie, Georgetown University Law Center class of 2002, opted out of law review and big-firm life to pursue her broadcasting career. Now the co-anchor of the Today show, she still remembers her gig answering phones in the dean’s office while she was in school.

At a moment when law schools are under fire for, possibly, fudging the post-employment statistics of their graduates, and in an era when big law is facing some big struggles, remembering the versatility of a law degree seems especially opportune. Not everyone has to march from associate to partner or counsel. Nontraditional paths abound.

Some lawyers ditched their day jobs back when the economy was good to become investors and financial advisors on their own; they realized they could make a lot more money if they were doing more than the paperwork on any transaction. The analytical and decision-making skills learned during law school certainly bode well for leaders in the business world. Any number of legal marketing folks, both in-house and out-, have J.D.s in their pockets.

In D.C., the federal government beckons; plenty of policy makers don’t practice law but are admitted to the bar. Publishing, P.R., small business—any arena where the ability to research, reason, and think are especially useful—all provide viable avenues for a lawyer longing to leave the legal biz. The only time my J.D. held me back was when I was trying to break into publishing. Having moved from D.C. to New York, I was told by one interviewer that he worried about giving me a job for fear that I would stay just long enough to pass the bar in a new state. I’d been surprised at the time; back in Washington, plenty of people at the federal agency at which I had worked had law degrees and no intention of practicing. I persisted and became a writer and editor and have never begrudged my legal education. Habits I picked up during my own years at the Georgetown University Law Center, my reading and research skills, my tenacity, have only helped me over the years. J.D.s can help any number of people in any number of fields nowadays, too.

—Lori Tripoli