A revolution in legal aid -- obligatory legal assistance bill in Israel

A new bill, under which the Israel Bar Association will be obligated to provide legal assistance to under-privileged populations, was approved by the Knesset in late November 2009.

Initiated by the President of the Israel Bar, Adv. Yori Geiron, and Knesset-Member, Yariv Levin, the new law made the current non-obligatory function of providing legal assistance to deprived populations, into an obligatory one. The bill gained the support of a large number of Knesset members, wanting to ensure that access to the justice system will be available to all people, regardless of their financial means.

This is an important precedent for the Israel Bar, as for the first time, it is the Bar itself which undertakes to provide legal services to the public, a project which is fully sponsored by the Bar.

It is important to note, however, that the new law does not require each lawyer to take on pro bono work, but it is an obligation of the Bar itself, through its volunteer lawyers.

The law will become effective over the next few months, once rules determining eligibility for such legal assistance by the Bar will be adopted.

President Yori Geiron: 'Practicing law is not just a profession, it is a social responsibility, and one of its missions is to increase access to the justice system, as a basic right. It is with this in mind, and after a continuing debate within the Bar, that the Bar was able to operate its pro bono program, "Schar Mitzva", for the past 7 years, providing legal assistance to under-privileged people across the country, with over 2,500 volunteer lawyers. This is an essential project, which provides legal assistance and full representation to thousands of people each year.'

Knesset-Member Yariv Levin: 'This bill is an important stage in the efforts to empower under-privileged populations and help many to break out of the circle of poverty. Using the legal advice provided to them, many people could fight for what they are legally entitled to and protect themselves, against suits filed against them. This way, those people will be able to break out of the circle of poverty. At the same time, this will prevent court decisions, obligating those people to pay enormous amounts, simply due to the fact that they were not represented in court, thereby, sending them back to the circle of poverty.'

Posted by Adv. Dikla Elkabets
Israel Bar Association

Mandatory pro bono considered in Israel and adopted in the Phillipines

The Israel Bar Association was established in 1961 as an autonomous statutory entity, under the Bar Association Law - 1961, in order to incorporate the lawyers in Israel and to assure the standard and integrity of the legal profession. The Bar Association is a body corporate, and is subject to inspection by the State Comptroller. Membership is mandatory and is a pre-requisite to practicing law in Israel.

The above-mentioned law distinguishes between the statutory obligatory functions of the Bar Association (section 2) and its other non-obligatory functions and competences (section 3). One of the non-obligatory functions which appears in section 3 is "to provide legal assistance to persons without means".

A new bill, proposed by one of the members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), suggests converting this non-obligatory function into an obligatory one. The Knesset Research & Information Center reports that this proposal is being discussed now in the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset.

More information about the Pro Bono program of the Israel Bar Association is on the bar's website here.

The Philippines has recently adopted mandatory pro bono effective 1 January 2010. See here and here for more information.

Posted by
Anthony H. Barash
Director Emeritus, ABA Center for Pro Bono

The above news could form the launch pad for a more wide-ranging debate on whether mandatory pro bono is necessarily a good thing:

- If it becomes mandatory, does it lose an important element of pro bono? Or is the end result all that matters?
- Does it make it more difficult to ensure quality of service is of a uniform standard with client work?
- If charity donation is made compulsory, doesn't it become a tax?

We welcome your comments by clicking the comment link below.

Posted by
Tim Soutar
IBA Pro bono and Access to Justice Committee


The prospect of mandatory pro bono can provoke concern in some instances. See Marcos Fuchs's remarks, delivered at the IBA Annual Conference in Buenos Aires in October 2008, in which he describes the resistance of the 47,000 lawyers in Sao Paulo State who rely on government subsidy for representing the underserved to any form of pro bono mandate. Their concern derives from the possibility that lawyers offering services pro bono might engage in unfair competition. Likewise, lawyers in the U.S. who cultivate practices based on fee-shifting regimes voice concern that judges will minimize fee awards if they believe that the work is more appropriately done on a pro bono basis. See Samuel R. Bagenstos, "Mandatory Pro Bono and Private Attorneys General," 101 Nw. U. L. Rev. Colloquy 182 (2007).

More fundamentally, in a jurisdiction which considers pro bono work as an ethical obligation, one might say that providing the work is mandatory in any case. See David Fagelson, "Rights and Duties: The Ethical Obligations to Serve the Poor," 17 Law & Ineq.: A J. of Theory & Prac. 171, 182-189 (Winter 1999); see generally Robin Westbrook, "Lawyering and the Low-Income Taxpayer," 124 Tax Notes 704 and 705-706 (August 17, 2009).

Posted by
Robin Westbrook
IBA Pro bono and Access to Justice Committee