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In Latin, pro bono publico means "for the public good;" in English we generally shorten the phrase to pro bono. Donating free legal help to those who need it has long been a practice of American law firms; the American Bar Association actually recommends that all lawyers donate 50 hours a year. Pro bono work is sometimes donated by nonlegal firms as well. For example, an advertising firm might produce a 60-second video for an environmental or educational organization, or a strategic-planning firm might prepare a start-up plan for a charity that funds shelters for battered women.

Examples of pro bono in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web There are legal organizations that want to offer pro bono services. — Fortune Editors, Fortune, 12 May 2022 Jackson referred him to a high-profile law firm, which took his case pro bono. — Arkansas Online, 26 Feb. 2022 The litigation team in the Gomez case for FY 2020 Diversity Visa winners included the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Justice Action Center (JAC) and Innovation Law Lab, with pro bono support from Mayer Brown LLP. — Stuart Anderson, Forbes, 31 Jan. 2022 Bellis has found a lawyer who is handling her case pro bono and has submitted over 60 documents to the New Zealand government, answered countless questions, only to be rejected twice for entry to her home country. — NBC News, 31 Jan. 2022 The 2,200-word essay was published in September by Lioness, which works with whistle blowers and agreed to represent the signatories pro bono. — Jackie Wattles, CNN, 10 Dec. 2021 At Amazon, Patel and his team have spearheaded a number of pro bono initiatives, including on cases surrounding immigration, uncontested adoptions and addressing high school students in underserved communities on civil rights issues. — Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Mar. 2022 And a local immigration lawyer is working pro bono except for costs to process their applications for political asylum. — David Lyons, Sun Sentinel, 17 Apr. 2022 He was represented pro bono by one of Sacramento’s top defense lawyers, Linda Parisi, appointed to the case due to an overload at the public defender’s office. — Anchorage Daily News, 6 Apr. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pro bono.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.