Rule Text (verbatim from The Florida Bar)
(a) Professional Responsibility. Each member of The Florida
Bar in good standing, as part of that member’s professional
responsibility, should (1) render pro bono legal services to the poor
and (2) participate, to the extent possible, in other pro bono service
activities that directly relate to the legal needs of the poor. This
professional responsibility does not apply to members of the
judiciary or their staffs or to government lawyers who are prohibited
from performing legal services by constitutional, statutory, rule, or
regulatory prohibitions. Neither does this professional
responsibility apply to those members of the bar who are retired,
inactive, or suspended, or who have been placed on the inactive list
for incapacity not related to discipline.
(b) Discharge of the Professional Responsibility to Provide
Pro Bono Legal Service to the Poor. The professional
responsibility to provide pro bono legal services as established
under this rule is aspirational rather than mandatory in nature.
The failure to fulfill one’s professional responsibility under this rule
will not subject a lawyer to discipline. The professional
responsibility to provide pro bono legal service to the poor may be
discharged by:
(1) annually providing at least 20 hours of pro bono legal
service to the poor; or
(2) making an annual contribution of at least $350 to a
legal aid organization.
(c) Collective Discharge of the Professional Responsibility
to Provide Pro Bono Legal Service to the Poor. Each member of
the bar should strive to individually satisfy the member’s
professional responsibility to provide pro bono legal service to the
poor. Collective satisfaction of this professional responsibility is
permitted by law firms only under a collective satisfaction plan that
has been filed previously with the circuit pro bono committee and
only when providing pro bono legal service to the poor:
(1) in a major case or matter involving a substantial
expenditure of time and resources; or
(2) through a full-time community or public service staff;
or
(3) in any other manner that has been approved by the
circuit pro bono committee in the circuit in which the firm
practices.
(d) Reporting Requirement. Each member of the bar must
annually report whether the member has satisfied the member’s
professional responsibility to provide pro bono legal services to the
poor through the member’s annual membership fees statement as
developed by The Florida Bar. At minimum, the statement must
include the number of hours of pro bono legal services provided and
the dollar amount of contributions to pro bono legal services
organizations.
The failure to report this information constitutes a
disciplinary offense under these rules.
(e) Credit Toward Professional Responsibility in Future
Years. In the event that more than 20 hours of pro bono legal
service to the poor are provided and reported in any 1 year, the
hours in excess of 20 hours may be carried forward and reported as
such for up to 2 succeeding years for the purpose of determining
whether a lawyer has fulfilled the professional responsibility to
provide pro bono legal service to the poor in those succeeding years.
(f) Out-of-State Members of the Bar. Out-of-state members
of the bar may fulfill their professional responsibility in the states in
which they practice or reside.
Educational reference. This page summarizes a Florida Rule of Professional Conduct for educational purposes. The rule text and Comment are mirrored from the Florida Bar's official publication and are public domain. The plain-English summary and any commentary are the opinion of Phillips, Hunt & Walker and are general information only — not legal advice. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you believe a Florida lawyer has violated this rule, you can file a complaint with The Florida Bar at floridabar.org. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What this rule means in plain English
Florida lawyers should provide at least 20 hours of pro bono legal services to the poor each year or contribute at least $350 annually to a legal aid organization. The rule is aspirational rather than mandatory disciplinary obligation, but the Bar tracks compliance. Pro bono is part of how Florida lawyers earn the privilege of practicing law — not optional charity work but a recognized professional responsibility built into the rules.
Comment (verbatim from The Florida Bar)
Pro bono legal service to the poor is an integral and particular
part of a lawyer’s pro bono public service responsibility. As our
society has become one in which rights and responsibilities are
increasingly defined in legal terms, access to legal services has
become of critical importance. This is true for all people, be they
rich, poor, or of moderate means. However, because the legal
problems of the poor often involve areas of basic need, their
inability to obtain legal services can have dire consequences. The
vast unmet legal needs of the poor in Florida have been recognized
by the Supreme Court of Florida and by several studies undertaken
in Florida over the past 2 decades. The Supreme Court of Florida
has further recognized the necessity of finding a solution to the
problem of providing the poor greater access to legal service and the
unique role of lawyers in our adversarial system of representing and
defending persons against the actions and conduct of governmental
entities, individuals, and nongovernmental entities. As an officer of
the court, each member of The Florida Bar in good standing has a
professional responsibility to provide pro bono legal service to the
poor. Certain lawyers, however, are prohibited from performing
legal services by constitutional, statutory, rule, or other regulatory
prohibitions. Consequently, members of the judiciary and their
staffs, government lawyers who are prohibited from performing legal
services by constitutional, statutory, rule, or regulatory
prohibitions, members of the bar who are retired, inactive, or
suspended, or who have been placed on the inactive list for
incapacity not related to discipline are deferred from participation
in this program.
In discharging the professional responsibility to provide pro
bono legal service to the poor, each lawyer should furnish a
minimum of 20 hours of pro bono legal service to the poor annually
or contribute $350 to a legal aid organization. “Pro bono legal
service” means legal service rendered without charge or expectation
of a fee for the lawyer at the time the service commences. Legal
services written off as bad debts do not qualify as pro bono service.
Most pro bono service should involve civil proceedings given that
government must provide indigent representation in most criminal
matters. Pro bono legal service to the poor is to be provided not
only to those persons whose household incomes are below the
federal poverty standard but also to those persons frequently
referred to as the “working poor.” Lawyers providing pro bono legal
service on their own need not undertake an investigation to
determine client eligibility. Rather, a good faith determination by
the lawyer of client eligibility is sufficient. Pro bono legal service to
the poor need not be provided only through legal services to
individuals; it can also be provided through legal services to
charitable, religious, or educational organizations whose overall
mission and activities are designed predominately to address the
needs of the poor. For example, legal service to organizations such
as a church, civic, or community service organizations relating to a
project seeking to address the problems of the poor would qualify.
While the personal involvement of each lawyer in the provision
of pro bono legal service to the poor is generally preferable, such
personal involvement may not always be possible or produce the
ultimate desired result, that is, a significant maximum increase in
the quantity and quality of legal service provided to the poor. The
annual contribution alternative recognizes a lawyer’s professional
responsibility to provide financial assistance to increase and
improve the delivery of legal service to the poor when a lawyer
cannot or decides not to provide legal service to the poor through
the contribution of time. Also, there is no prohibition against a
lawyer contributing a combination of hours and financial support.
The limited provision allowing for collective satisfaction of the 20-
hour standard recognizes the importance of encouraging law firms
to undertake the pro bono legal representation of the poor in
substantial, complex matters requiring significant expenditures of
law firm resources and time and costs, such as class actions and
post-conviction death penalty appeal cases, and through the
establishment of full-time community or public service staffs.
When a law firm uses collective satisfaction, the total hours of legal
services provided in such substantial, complex matters or through a
full-time community or public service staff should be credited
among the firm’s lawyers in a fair and reasonable manner as
determined by the firm.
The reporting requirement is designed to provide a sound
basis for evaluating the results achieved by this rule, reveal the
strengths and weaknesses of the pro bono plan, and to remind
lawyers of their professional responsibility under this rule. The
fourth alternative of the reporting requirements allows members to
indicate that they have fulfilled their service in some manner not
specifically envisioned by the plan.
The 20-hour standard for the provision of pro bono legal
service to the poor is a minimum. Additional hours of service are to
be encouraged. Many lawyers will, as they have before the adoption
of this rule, contribute many more hours than the minimum. To
ensure that a lawyer receives credit for the time required to handle
a particularly involved matter, this rule provides that the lawyer
may carry forward, over the next 2 successive years, any time
expended in excess of 20 hours in any 1 year.
Former Rule 4-6.1 deleted June 23, 1993, effective Oct. 1, 1993. New Rule
4- 6.1 adopted June 23, 1993, effective October 1, 1993 (630 So.2d 501);
amended Sept. 24, 1998, effective Oct. 1, 1998 (718 So.2d 1179); amended
March 3, 2022, effective May 2, 2022 (SC20-1467).