Why Pro Bono Becomes a Profane Word: Quantitave and Qualitative Analysis of Legal Aid in Taiwan

Ching Fang Hsu

Why do lawyers do pro bono? Is it an act of altruism, or does it induce non-monetary benefits or signify symbolic value? We propose a framework to explain how pro bono pertains different meanings to the legal profession based on two factors: the client type that the lawyers serve, and whether the legal aid delivered to the indigent clients is free or at below market price. Pro bono in a conventional term, which is unpaid legal aid performed by corporate lawyers, signals moral high ground in the profession. Conversely, for lawyers who serve individual clients, unpaid legal aid brings similar positive reputation and yet it also enhances social capital that bonds the practitioner and the community she draws clients from. As for those lawyers who supply legal services at below market price to individual clients, which is the least explored area in the literature, pro bono intriguingly becomes a profane word. It signifies incompetence in both professional capacity and market competitiveness.

Using a unique, comprehensive data set on all (nearly 40,000) legal aid lawyers in Taiwan, and 161 in-depth interviews with practicing lawyers across the country, we offer the first comprehensive empirical analysis of pro bono lawyers and builds an original theory on the legal profession’s provision to public good.

Ching-Fang Hsu  is a doctorate candidate in political science at the University of Toronto. She received her LL.B from National Taiwan University, LL.M from UC Berkeley, and M.A. from the University of Chicago. Trained as a lawyer and social scientist, she works in the interdisciplinary area between political science and law, focusing on the role of legal profession in different regime settings. Her work has been published in the UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal, University of Pennsylvania East Asia Law Review, Asian Journal of Law and Society, and forthcoming in China Perspectives.