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Pro bono legal service, for good reason, often takes the form of direct service to low-income clients. But a lawyer’s ethical and social obligation to serve is broader than that.
Recall from law school (and hopefully ethics CLEs) that the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct recognize “service in activities for improving the law, the legal system or the legal profession” as pro bono. See also IRPC Preamble, § 6 (“a lawyer should further the public’s understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system because legal institutions in a constitutional democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their authority”).
Many opportunities for this work exist in 2025. The newly created IndyBar Rule of Law Initiative aims to support lawyers in that endeavor.
Chris Hickey and Travis Jensen, Initiative co-chairs, report that the Initiative’s mission is to make the Rule of Law ever-present, relevant and accessible to both legal professionals and the public by focusing on education, collaboration and serving as a resource for lawyers, volunteers, and citizens alike.
The initiative intends to make its Law Day celebration—which this year brought out hundreds of attorneys to the federal courthouse to retake their oath of office—an annual event.
The initiative’s executive committee continues laying the groundwork for sustainability and defining its short- and long-term goals.
In doing so, it is centering its broad goals around exploring civic education pro bono opportunities, making Rule of Law concepts relatable, and determining how to best meet the greatest needs of the community at large regarding Rule of Law principles.
“The Rule of Law” can sound like an academic concept reserved to philosophy or law school classrooms. It is not.
It pervades the lives of all; it creates the bounds within which our society operates.
Perhaps no organization in Indiana knows this better than the Indiana ACLU, the only non-profit in Indiana dedicated to protecting civil and public rights
To Stevie Pactor, Indiana ACLU staff attorney, the Rule of Law is more than a legal concept or matter of public education; rather, “it means that the law applies to everyone including those taxed with enforcing it.” To Pactor, the Rule of Law is championed by “clients who have the courage to be the person who steps forward to say the government wronged me.”
For clients of the Indiana ACLU, the Rule of Law is not an abstract concept but a very real bastion for—or barrier to—their assertion of rights that should be guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
However, money matters, and for civil rights cases where the remedy sought is often not damages but injunctive relief, and where fee recovery has been eroded in recent years, the private bar is ill-positioned to take these cases on as billable matters.
As proof positive, the Indiana ACLU receives (and responds to) upwards of 500 requests for help per month.
Unlike most of the pro bono topics covered by this column series, civil rights law is not a low barrier to entry practice, as one unsuccessful claim could preclude similar claims for everyone.
Rather than direct pro bono service to Indiana ACLU clients, private attorneys can assist the organization’s mission in other ways. First and foremost, attorneys can issue-spot for constitutional and civil rights issues in their cases and reach out to the Indiana ACLU for advice or to request co-counsel.
Here is where we remind our readers that the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct aspire for all attorneys to contribute 50 pro bono hours each year or an equivalent financial contribution. Finally, every effort to expand access to justice, inform the public of constitutional rights and how to assert them, or empower prospective clients as the experts of their own experience ultimately benefit the Indiana ACLU’s mission.
Both the Rule of Law Initiative and Indiana ACLU have robust plans for Constitution Day, which commemorates the U.S. Constitution being signed on Sept. 17, 1787.
The Indiana ACLU has previously passed out pocket constitutions on Monument Circle—which is a right it had to litigate to preserve. See Dkt. 1:20-cv-01094-JMS-TAB.
The Rule of Law Initiative, being in its inaugural year, is actively seeking legal professionals—attorneys, judges, paralegals, law students—to collaborate on its planned programming.
The planned programming includes a live-action CLE focused on attorneys’ responsibility to further the public’s understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and justice system, speaking to students at local schools in coordination with planned Constitutional education programs and other programming like social media campaigns, educational content regarding specific Articles and high school writing contests.
Have you felt called to do something in the sphere of preserving the rule of law? Are you concerned about widespread misunderstandings about separation of powers? Do you want to support access to justice in a fundamental way? If so, Constitution Day is for you.
Follow @ACLUIndiana for the latest updates about its Constitution Day programming and civil rights happenings in Indiana, check the IndyBar Constitution Day website for event updates or email Julie Armstrong at [email protected] to get involved in the Rule of Law Initiative’s upcoming programming.•
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Molly Madden and Cassidy Segura Clouse are associates in Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath’s Indianapolis office. Opinions expressed are those of the authors.
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