Before I became a lawyer, I studied Gothic literature, American and English. Friends suggested (darkly, of course) that reading Ambrose Bierce and Bram Stoker was not a detour but rather a direct path to law school, that an interest in twisted and creepy human behavior leads naturally to becoming a lawyer.

As we celebrate the first-ever National Pro Bono Law Week, and with Halloween looming, I’ve revisited this professional crossroad, but now from the hopefully wizened perspective of a “pro bono lawyer.”