In Reply. —
Dr Evans will be interested to know that 100 000 lawyers participate each year in some 500 organized pro bono programs for the poor in this country. This does not include private, nonreported pro bono work for the local church, art center, or service club. Since August 1988 — 7 months after the editorial was first published in the ABA Journal and JAMA — it has been the official policy of the American Bar Association that lawyers should devote at least 50 hours of their time to the poor each year.
Dr Haynes misses the point. I believe that the moral price for holding a license to practice a profession of specialized knowledge is devotion of some of one's skills at no charge to the needy. The country cannot afford otherwise.
Dr Tauber is wrong. The duty to devote time to the poor arises not from the
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