For many Americans (and other inhabitants of planet Earth), "lawyer" and "liar" aren't just near-homonyms -- they're synonyms. [Yes, I know you know this.]
Now, imagine you're a group of bar leaders concerned with the public image of lawyers as lying, greedy shysters. To be more specific, you're upset a survey by your state's Office of Court Administration shows that lawyers did even less pro bono work in 2002 than they had in 1997, the last year surveyed. Add the additional factor that your association has been working very hard for years to increase the amount of pro bono performed by its members, in order to prevent the establishment of a mandatory pro bono rule, which would replace the current "aspirational goal" of 20 hours per year of pro bono per attorney.
So, what do you do? If you're the leaders of the New York State Bar Association, you do something that is likely to increase both your pro bono numbers and your reputation as lying greedy shysters -- you redefine pro bono to encompass just about every legal service a lawyer might provide to any community, civic or public interest organization, and services done to "improve the legal system" or "the legal profession." Even better for lawyers in the State, pro bono [formerly thought of as "free" services by the rest of us] would include the "delivery of legal services at a substantially reduced fee to persons of limited means." ["Substantially reduced" is not defined, and pro bono reporting is expected to remain voluntary, for purposes of measuring the bar's overall service.]
-- due to technical difficulties, continued here--
