Pro Bono Practice and Opportunities in Costa Rica

The Law No. 13, dated 28 October 1941 (Ley Orgánica del Colegio de Abogados y Abogadas de Costa Rica), requires every practicing lawyer (including in-house counsel) to be registered with the Costa Rica Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados y Abogadas de Costa Rica) (the Bar Association), which, among other functions, oversees their professional conduct and ethical behaviour.^[1]

Foreign lawyers who want to practice law in Costa Rica (including providing pro bono services) are required to apply to the University of Costa Rica to have their law degree assessed as being equivalent to a Costa Rican law degree and to sit for a legal ethics exam. Once in receipt of all required documentation (including proof of residency), the foreign lawyer can apply for registration with the Bar Association.^[2]

The legal profession in Costa Rica is also regulated by the Bar Association. Lawyers in Costa Rica must comply with a Code of Conduct (Código de Deberes Jurídicos, Morales y Éticos del Profesional en Derecho)^[3] and the rules of the Bar Association (Reglamento Interior del Colegio de Abogados)^[4].

Lawyers in Costa Rica must at all times preserve absolute independence, comply with confidentiality rules, serve clients’ interests diligently, conscientiously and promptly, and cannot act in situations in which a conflict of interest exists.

There are no specific rules or requirements for lawyers in Costa Rica regarding pro bono legal services. The principal barrier to the proliferation of pro bono legal services in Costa Rica is a lack of explicit legal regulations and public cooperation. Additionally, minimum fees for legal services are regulated by the Government in the Decree on Professional Fees for Legal Services (Arancel de Honorarios por Servicios Profesionales de Abogacia y Notariado),^[5] which requires those providing legal services to charge fees for their services with an express prohibition against reducing or eliminating such fees. The Bar Association enforces these regulations.

However, Article 68 of the Bar Association’s Professional Code of Conduct provides for an exception to this minimum fee rule in respect of “social projection” matters allocated to lawyers by the Bar Association, which may include certain pro bono legal matters. Accordingly, “private” pro bono initiatives are not covered under this exception, and (in theory) lawyers in Costa Rica can only provide pro bono legal services if they have authorisation from the Bar Association for the specific pro bono legal matter in question.

Lawyers in Costa Rica do not require a specific licence or permit to provide pro bono legal services.

There are no additional rules or requirements placed on foreign lawyers who are registered with the Bar Association to provide pro bono legal services.

Lawyers are not required to work a minimum number of pro bono hours in Costa Rica. However, the Bar Association encourages the legal community to engage in pro bono legal work as part of their professional responsibility and commitment to social justice.

Aspiring lawyers are not required to complete a minimum number of hours of pro bono legal services to become licensed lawyers.

There are no specific aspirational pro bono hours set by the Bar Association.

Lawyers in Costa Rica are not required to earn any CLE or equivalent credit. Thus, there is no CLE credit given for pro bono hours worked.

Lawyers in Costa Rica do not require professional indemnity legal insurance coverage for any pro bono legal services that they provide. The same applies for in-house lawyers.

If the pro bono legal matter is assigned by the Pro Bono Commission of the Bar Association, any initiative of disclosing the results or its development in the media must be previously authorised by the Pro Bono Commission.^[6] In the case of pro bono initiatives directly established and procured by law firms, advertising rules and restrictions applicable to a regular attorney-client relationship shall apply.

The areas of law that require or present opportunities for the provision of pro bono legal services vary depending on the expected reach of the programmes and the end users. For instance, in terms of individuals, the main areas of law that may present major unmet legal needs are family law, immigration law, human rights law, and elder law.

Conversely, with respect to foundations, NGOs, nonprofit organisations, etc., the main areas of law that may present greater opportunities are the ones related to the management of such organisations and day-to-day projects (e.g., corporate law, insurance law, labour law, administrative law, civil law, etc.).

The Pro Bono Commission of the Bar Association is Costa Rica’s leading centre for pro bono legal work, which focuses on finding and distributing pro bono opportunities to private lawyers. Founded in 2010, it does not provide direct legal services to clients, but rather serves as an intermediary or link between law firms or individual lawyers in Costa Rica and non-profit entities, NGOs, and individuals who have requested free legal services in matters of public interest, general impact, or that have an important social or legal impact.

On the other hand, BLP was the first Costa Rican signatory of the PBDA. The firm provides most of its pro bono legal aid through its popular BLP Pro Bono Foundation, which it established in late 2008. The organisation, set up by the firm, is one of the biggest providers of pro bono legal services in the country.^[7] Founded in 2017, HIAS Costa Rica (HIAS) offers, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, legal guidance to refugees and asylum seekers on the administrative procedures for the refugee status determination, as well as for access to basic rights, such as health, education, and work.

HIAS also provides legal orientation to people with a need for immediate attention, such as unaccompanied and separated children, gender-based violence survivors, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, and elderly people. Finally, the Bar Association and some universities provide free legal assistance and pro bono clinics for individuals with limited financial resources and with special legal needs. Unfortunately, none of those clinics can assist people from rural areas.

Specifically, university legal clinics (consultorios jurídicos) are offered in a few law degrees as an optional subject (except in the case of the University of Costa Rica), although they are neither a degree requirement nor a condition to join the Bar Association.

In Costa Rica, the use of AI in legal services, including pro bono work, is still in its early stages. While there are no well-documented cases of AI being directly applied to pro bono legal services, some initiatives highlight the potential of AI to improve access to justice. There is also a growing awareness and exploration of AI in the Costa Rican legal sector, with the potential to enhance efficiency and accessibility in legal services, including pro bono work.

As of today, Costa Rica does not have a pro bono clearinghouse. As discussed above, the main non-governmental source of pro bono in Costa Rica is the Pro Bono Commission of the Bar Association, which acts as an intermediary.^[8]

Other sources of pro bono legal matters are international organisations, such as:

• TrustLaw, the pro bono programme from Thomson Reuters Foundation, which connects law firms and corporate legal teams around the world, including Costa Rica, with high-impact NGOs and social enterprises working to create social and environmental change;^[9] and
• the Inter-American Bar Association (Federacion Interamericana de Abogados), which launched a pro bono programme where it connects lawyers throughout the American region, including Costa Rica, with people who are willing to exercise their rights of information in cases of public interest related to transparency of governmental entities.^[10] Other international organisations that promote the pro bono culture in Costa Rica include the Cyrus R. Vance Center, the Pro Bono Network of the Americas (Red Pro Bono de las Americas), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Lawyers may register with the Pro Bono Commission of the Bar Association. The Pro Bono Commission manages a registry of private law firms and individual attorneys willing to provide pro bono legal services and that comply with the requirements and conditions set forth by the Pro Bono Commission in order to be registered.^[11]

Latin Lawyer awards the Pro Bono Project of the Year Award and recognises noteworthy contributions towards strengthening the culture of pro bono in Latin America on the list of Leading Lights.