Pro Bono Publication

I’ve just received word of — and a copy of — McMillan’s first brochure featuring their pro bono legal services. You can access the announcement here and the brochure itself here.

This got me thinking a bit about the difficulty that you’d face in preparing such a brochure, for example:

• Who is your audience: partners in the firm? the general public? your charity partners? possible new hires? paying clients?
• How glossy do you make it: glossy (as this is), or does that seem too . . . incongruous? sober, like a simple list with the occasional paragraph in black and white, or would that fail to engage the audience (see point one above)?
• Do you put down amounts: hours? dollar values, and if so, billed at what rate? or would that seem . . . crass?

I notice too that McMillan furnishes its pro bono services through charities, which, I presume, is a helpful way to deal with the selection problem, their being an almost endless supply of suppliants I imagine, worthy and unworthy. Is it also, I wonder, of any tax advantage?

How does your firm make known its pro bono efforts — if it at all? Who is the audience for any such publication? How does the firm select its pro bono clients? How does your firm estimate the cost to the firm of pro bono work?