Pro bono work primarily is an “antisocial” and self-serving activity lawyers use to develop their skills, firms use to recruit and “give solace” to associates, and nonprofits use to further a political agenda, Judge Jacobs argued.

In particular, litigation against the government and government officials and impact litigation are attempts to improperly expand the courts’ reach in legislative matters, the judge said.

These were his remarks to a gathering of the Federalist Society in Rochester, NY.  More at The Daily Record, Legal Blog Watch, and the American Constitution Society blog.

Judge Jacobs then goes on to deride pro bono practitioners for “honor[ing] each other, sometimes over and over.”

I’m sorry.  I guess the 400 hours that I spent in New Orleans helping indigent families clear title to their damages homes were purely for my private benefit–and perhaps their private benefit.  No public good (or bono publico) arose from that work.  It certainly didn’t improve property values in New Orleans by allowing neighborhoods to be cleaned up and rebuilt.  Nor did it improve overall morale in the city.  It definitely didn’t reduce homelessness or overcrowding in the city’s residential areas.

Oh, and all those indigent criminal defendants?  If they really needed representing, they’d hire somebody.

I have to say that the dispute between Donald Trump and the sort of lawyer who represents Donald Trump is one of the few in which I do not have a natural favorite.  Mostly, I say, let the rich people duke it out and I don’t care who comes out on top.  I have as much trouble feeling sorry for the lawyer who got $1 million in fees and thinks he’s coming up short.  Most American workers would think they had struck it rich if anybody paid them $1 million plus costs for a single project.

What struck me about the article, though, was how The Donald describes his case:

“Trump told the NYLJ that the law firm was preoccupied with fees throughout the case. ‘Ninety percent of the conversations I had with David Scharf were about legal fees, not the case,’ he said. ‘We won the case because I’m a great witness’”

So the moral of the story for the next public defender who gets no love for winning a case: don’t worry, it happens to rich lawyers too.  Then again, they at least get money for it.