The Connecticut Superior Court’s Rules Committee has just advanced a plan that could allow attorneys to earn some continuing legal education credits by providing pro bono legal services, potentially placing the state among just three that allow lawyers to earn up to half their yearly requirements through volunteering.

During a public hearing and subsequent meeting in Hartford, the committee, chaired by Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Joan K. Alexander, increased over a previous plan the proposed ratio of hours worked to credits earned, agreeing that three hours of pro bono services should equal one CLE credit.

An earlier version suggested a 2:1 ratio, but during the meeting, the committee questioned whether a different balance would better serve indigent populations.

Elizabeth Rowe, an Assistant Counsel at the statewide Grievance Committee who also provides legal support to the state’s minimum continuing legal education commission, told the committee a ratio as high as some other states could discourage Connecticut lawyers from using the rule to earn credits.

“The proposal was designed to encourage new lawyers who do not currently do pro bono work to try and do some pro bono work,” said Rowe, speaking during the public comment section of the hearing. “If it’s five to one, that amount may be discouraging … we may not get a lot of new people.”

Rowe is not a member of the committee; it is composed of nine Connecticut jurists.

Emily A. Gianquinto, special counsel at McCarter & English LLP and the incoming president of the Connecticut Bar Association, said the CBA was developing a pro bono credit proposal when the state judicial branch independently released its own plan.

“The CBA wholeheartedly supports this idea,” she said. “We’re very happy it’s gone this far.”

As drafted, the proposal added a new section to Practice Book Rule 2-27A allowing attorneys to earn CLE credits “by providing uncompensated legal services for clients unable to afford counsel under the supervision of an organized legal aid society, state or local bar association project, or a court-affiliated pro bono program in Connecticut.”

The CBA also suggested that the rule be expanded to account for free services provided through affinity bar associations, such as practice-specific organizations, not just official legal aid societies, court programs, or state or local bar associations.

Rowe told the committee that attorneys should be required to perform volunteer services while attached to an official pro-bono services provider.

“We wanted to be able to track the pro bono hours,” she said. “If there’s no supervision with the pro bono hours, we would be leaving it up to attorneys to – sort of – decide what they think is pro bono rather than something concrete and specific.”

You can read more about the hearing here.

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