Pro Bono: Foundation Memorandum

By Margaret C. Benson
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services

To: Network Executives

From: Reality Show Development

Re: May Sweeps & Law Day Programming

We are introducing a new reality program that we anticipate will score a minimum of a 30 share in the Chicago markets.

”America’s Next Top Pro Bono Project — Chicago” combines the elements of ”America’s Next Top Model,” ”Top Chef,” and ”Project Runway” into one trendy cutthroat program featuring lawyers, judges, and clients. Dripping with pathos, irony, and unbridled egos, the only word that can accurately describe its effect on the American audience is, ”Fierce!”

Concept

Legal aid programs vie to get their pro bono projects selected by top law firms. Pro bono is in these days — lawyers talk about wanting to do it and law firms claim to support it 100 percent. This program will challenge both groups in a fun, spirited way. Each episode will feature a quirky collection of legal service programs trying to convince legal industry leaders to adopt their pro bono programs. Watch the fireworks when pro bono coordinators and legal service directors try to sway the judges to adopt their pro bono projects, and are shot down by competitors and our very own judges.

Judges

The makeup of the judging panel is key. Of course a high-fashion model as leader is de rigueur. Cindy Crawford is our first choice because of her local roots. If she is not available, we will try to get Naomi Campbell. Both her temper and well-known familiarity with the legal system should make her eager to participate and fun to watch. As with every show, our model’s job will be to wear a dizzying succession of extremely tight dresses, and frequent hairstyle changes. The other judges will include one actual judge. We believe this component will truly set our show apart — a real judge judging. This person should be of the Nina Garcia cranky sort — someone who doesn’t really buy into this whole ”pro bono” thing and cares more about courtroom protocol and demeanor than actual justice.

We’ve been led to understand that there is no shortage of this type of judge in Chicago. Of course, we will have to also factor in telegenic qualities, which may limit our choices. Our judge will wear a black robe and hold a gavel at all times. During particularly heated moments, such as when a contestant says something foolish or one of the other show judges argues with the actual judge, he or she could threaten to hit that person with the gavel. That would be a hoot and should really get our numbers up.

The final two judges will be a bar leader, a managing partner at one of Chicago’s big law firms, or a corporate general counsel. In addition to their basic good looks — this is television after all — we need articulate people with strong egos who can appear affable while ruthlessly mortifying a well-meaning, earnest person in front of an audience of millions. Again, we’ve been assured that casting these roles will be the easiest part of the job.

Contestants

While judges have to look good, contestants have to be good. We plan to select earnest ideologues who can convey, with intensity, the conviction of their causes. We will select based on visible manifestations of personality and belief in their cause. More succinctly, quirky is good. We have decided against trotting out any actual clients. Although some of us believed that clients would score huge numbers, the prevailing view was that clients are too unpredictable and might not be convincing enough for television.

Challenges

There will be two per show. At the beginning of each week’s show, the group of contestants will be provided with the facts of a typical pro bono case. The types will differ each week. Each contestant will have five minutes to package the product in a way that the average attorney would want to handle it for free. The winner of that challenge will have immunity for the second contest of the show. For the weekly main match, the contestants will be provided with an overall theme, such as ”death penalty,” ”asylum,” or ”domestic violence,” and given an eclectic array of cases generally in line with that theme. They will each have 15 minutes to develop, package, and market a pro bono project and convince the judges that it meets the needs of volunteer attorneys, employers, the legal profession, the courts, and, of course, the clients. The winning contestant’s program gets his or her project placed with a firm or corporate law department for 13 weeks. The contestant who scores the lowest interest from the judges gets kicked off the show.

Conclusion

We anticipate that ”America’s Next Top Pro Bono Project - Chicago” will be an immediate huge hit. We are introducing it in May to take advantage of sweeps and, of course, Law Day. What better way to cash in on the legal profession’s current obsession with pro bono than to make it a television contest? Once we get the green light, we are ready to go.