ABA Section of Business Law

Section standouts

Pro bono personified

John W. Martin Jr., vice president-general counsel of the Ford Motor Co., may work as an inside corporate lawyer, but he has not forgotten his professional responsibilities outside the office. He was the first chair of the Business Law Section’s Pro Bono Committee. Martin serves on the ABA’s Law Firm Pro Bono Project Advisory Committee and he previously chaired the Pro Bono Subcommittee of the ABA’s Committee of Corporate General Counsel. He began practicing law in 1961.

"I decided that it would be a good vehicle for me to demonstrate that inside lawyers have just as strong an obligation as lawyers in private practice do to meet their professional responsibilities and to devote some part of their practice to serving the public and to improving public welfare," he said. "Corporate lawyers are accorded all the privileges lawyers have as members of the legal profession, and I think that they should be anxious to meet all of the responsibilities as well. One of those responsibilities is to devote some part of your practice to pro bono work."

In addition to devoting time to pro bono, Martin currently chairs the ABA’s Task Force on Lawyers’ Political Contributions, which is comprised of 12 lawyers and judges from all over the country. The task force is examining the ethics issue created when lawyers contribute to political campaigns.

"Everybody has a challenge in trying to balance the competing demands on their time — their clients, their family, their church, their recreational interests," Martin said. "These are all important, but to be a well-rounded professional, I believe you have to devote at least some part of your time and energy to supporting the public responsibilities of the profession, and one of the ways to do that is through active involvement in bar activities."

Editor’s note: This is one of a series of mini-profiles of individuals who have made a significant contribution to the ABA Section of Business Law as well as to the profession as a whole.