50 hours pro bono work a bar admission requirement -Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman's Law Day 2012 Remarks

Below is the heart of Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman's announcement that mandatory pro bono work will be a condition of admission to the New York bar.  GWC
Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman's Law Day 2012 Remarks:

"If pro bono is a core value of our profession, and it is -- and if we aspire for all practicing attorneys to devote a meaningful portion of their time to public service, and they should -- these ideals ought to be instilled from the start, when one first aspires to be a member of the profession. The hands-on experience of helping others by using our skills as lawyers could not be more of a pre-requisite to meaningful membership in the bar of our state. So today, on Law Day, 2012, we turn over a new page in the bar admission process in New York -- by requiring each and every applicant for admission to contribute 50 hours of participation in law-related and uncompensated pro bono service before they can practice in New York State."

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