pro bono

Abbreviated from Latin prō bonō publicō (“for the public good”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /prəʊ ˈbəʊnəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /proʊ ˈboʊnoʊ/

• Audio (US):

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pro bono

1. (law, medicine) Without charging a fee, done without fee, generally for clients or patients of limited means.

   The firm currently has about half a dozen pro bono cases at any one time.

   After he retired, he offered representation pro bono from time to time.

   • 1996 June, Mark Hansen, “Death’s Door”, in Gary A. Hengstler, editor, ABA Journal: The Lawyer’s Magazine, volume 82, Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 64, column 1:

     Esther Lardent, chief consultant to the ABA's Post Conviction Death Penalty Representation Project, which has helped recruit pro bono lawyers for death row appeals since 1987, begs to differ. Finding a lawyer to represent a death row inmate has never been easy, Lardent says. And finding one now, she says, will be harder than ever.

   • 2002 December 5, Mark Lawson, “The fall and rise of Jamie”, in The Guardian:

     While the media sneerocracy only came round to Oliver because of his pro bono project, the huge number of people buying his books and wheeling their Sainsbury's trolleys in his wake had already responded to his charisma.

• Typically set in italics.