Dear Esther:
Thanks again for our regular phone calls, we are finding the exchanges to be extremely helpful. As part of that sharing of information, we wanted to let you know that the response we have heard from our members about the just-released PBI compensation survey has been almost unanimously negative. Many pro bono counsel from whom we have heard are fearful that the survey has the potential to harm their compensation efforts, exactly the opposite result that we know PBI is trying to achieve. From what we can gather, it is apparent that many of our members at higher income levels are very reluctant to participate in the survey. In fact, some of our members who are partners at their firms tell us they are not permitted to reveal their compensation. Additionally, since it seems that the survey was sent only to PBI member firms, there is further concern that the sampling will be incomplete and will not present a complete picture of the relevant landscape. Accordingly, there is great concern that the survey’s compensation results threaten to be biased downward, and therefore unhelpful to many of the pro bono professionals around the country. Other members also voiced concern that the pro bono counsel positions are not homogeneous and that although the survey has some good questions to help assess the types of responsibilities that each position carries, the results will be lacking the kinds of sufficient detail their management committees will need to make a fully-researched assessment of comparable compensation.
At this time, we are not affirmatively recommending that our members respond to the survey, although some may have already responded, and more may respond in the future. If you would like to collaborate with us on what the results of the survey would look like, how they would be published, and to whom they would be sent, we are open to that discussion. If we felt the survey were in our members’ interests, we would be happy to encourage our members’ participation.
Either way, we hope that given our concerns, you will agree to discuss with us the conclusions you draw from the survey responses prior to the release of such information. We would like to help PBI make this a useful tool.
Via email June 2012