Illinois Lawyers Donate Time & Money

Illinois lawyers, all lawyers for that matter, get such a bad rap. I'm sure you've heard all the lawyer jokes, many of which I find myself laughing at, albeit self-consciously. Lawyers in Illinois have something they can be proud of image-wise.

A recent article featured in Illinois Lawyer Now attests to just how "good" we Illinois lawyers are and just how much we give of ourselves.

To put it in cold, hard terms, the article Illinois lawyers in 2010 donated over 2.3 million hours of their time to pro bono work. IN ADDITION to that, Illinois lawyers also donated OVER 15 MILLION DOLLARS TO PRO BONO CAUSES!

Even better is that in a really lousy economic climate, these figures showed a 6% increase over 2009 figures.

I know that most lawyers I know are hard-working, industrious, honest, and diligent, with hearts in the right place. I like to consider myself one of them and hope others do as well.

While some may still laugh at the answer to the question, "what do you call 1000 dead lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?," I think many of us point with pride to articles like this that demonstrate just how much lawyers can have a positive impact on society. While Atticus Finch may not have smiled when he said it, he probably knew the answer was "a good start."

We are a profession dedicated to serving people and doing things others cannot, sometimes even when they cannot pay. That's a pretty heady thing to be able to say about lawyers!