Donald Curry concedes that it took a little “arm twisting” persuasion to convince his colleagues at an intellectual property firm to delve into pro bono. But persuasive he is.
In the three years since Curry, a partner at 175-lawyer Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto in Manhattan, has been running the firm’s pro bono committee, the average per-lawyer commitment increased from one hour annually to 39 while the percentage of attorneys devoting more than 20 hours a year jumped from 0.8 percent to nearly 35 percent, according to an annual survey of The American Lawyer.
