| On November 11, Quarles & Brady*† hosted its 2016 Annual Legal Ethics Seminar with a focus on the ethics of in-house pro bono. The seminar was held in the firm’s Milwaukee office and was broadcast to more than 300 colleagues and guests in Chicago; Indianapolis; Madison, Wisconsin; Naples, Florida; Tampa, Florida; and Washington, D.C.
Pro Bono Institute President and CEO Eve Runyon provided an overview of the ethics of in-house pro bono, including conflicts of interest, limited scope representation, and non-lawyer engagement in pro bono. In addition, she addressed common questions in in-house pro practice, highlighting the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge® initiative and the breadth of pro bono opportunities available to in-house counsel and their colleagues. Her presentation was followed by a panel featuring Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler and in-house pro bono leaders Mark Gittelman, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.**, Nora Platt, Northwestern Mutual, and Rebecca Rapp, Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation. Among other topics, Justice Ziegler talked about her experience as a pro bono Special Assistant District Attorney in the 1990s and about the current need for pro bono legal services in Wisconsin. Gittelman, Platt, and Rapp explained the operations and activities of the pro bono programs at their companies, and how their departments have navigated common ethical issues, and discussed the value of pro bono partnerships with outside law firms in providing pro bono. Finally, Quarles & Brady Partner Dan Conley provided an in-depth analysis of the key ethical considerations for in-house practice.
The seminar was particularly timely as Wisconsin recently joined Illinois, New York, and Virginia in amending its practice rules to allow non-locally licensed in-house counsel to provide pro bono services free of unnecessary restrictions. Effective January 1, 2017, registered in-house counsel in Wisconsin will no longer be required to serve only qualified clients of a legal service program, pursuant to Wisconsin Supreme Court Rule 10.03(4)(f).
We are grateful to Quarles & Brady for their outstanding pro bono leadership, including PBI in their seminar, and their generous hospitality.
For more information about in-house pro bono, including multijurisdictional practice rules, how to start a program, and hosting an in-house ethics program in your community, please contact CPBO at cpbo@probonoinst.org. |
