Open Letter to the 2024 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll Registrants from Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby and Chief Judge Milton C. Lee, Jr.

April 24, 2025

On behalf of the D.C. Courts, in partnership with the D.C. Access to Justice Commission, the D.C. Bar, and the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, we want to express our deep gratitude to each of you who qualified for recognition on the 2024 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll. Since 2011, the D.C. Courts have recognized attorneys who completed 50 or more hours of pro bono service in the calendar year. We are thrilled to report that 2024 was a record-breaking year with more attorneys than ever registering for the Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll.

For 2024, 5,400 attorneys registered for the Honor Roll, with 3,033 (56%) providing 100 or more hours of pro bono service, thus qualifying for the High Honor Roll. This represents at least 421,650 hours of pro bono service. We also are pleased to note that our legal community’s pro bono commitment spans across all types of practice. The 2024 Honor Roll members hail from more than 150 law firms, solo practices, federal and local government agencies, corporations, associations, and public interest organizations.

Thank you for contributing your time and expertise to expand access to justice for those who cannot afford legal representation. We are exceedingly proud of the robust tradition of pro bono service in our legal community.

As Chief Judges, we witness every day the significant obstacles faced by individuals with limited resources who must represent themselves simply because they cannot afford a lawyer. We launched the Courts’ new Access to Justice Unit in 2024 to help address these challenges and facilitate more pro bono representation in the D.C. Courts. In support of this effort, we organized court tours, virtual panels, and other special events for lawyers to learn about how they can make a meaningful impact right here in our community.

The District of Columbia is fortunate to have a truly exemplary cadre of legal services organizations whose attorneys work every day to make access to justice a reality. Yet there remains a significant gap between the number of people they can serve with their limited resources and the number who need legal help. The continued participation of pro bono counsel is simply indispensable to our civil justice system. It takes all of us, working together, to make access to justice a reality in the District.

We applaud you for answering – and in many cases exceeding – the call to service embodied by D.C. Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1 to perform at least 50 hours of pro bono service annually. We know that your actions stem not only from a commitment to your ethical obligations, but also from your principled beliefs in equal access to justice. We are pleased to recognize you on the 2024 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll.  

Sincerely,

Anna Blackburne-Rigsby
Chief Judge
District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Milton C. Lee, Jr.
Chief Judge
Superior Court of the District of Columbia