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Curiosity question; is there a "good semaritan act" for lawyers that covers them when working Pro Bono? I know in Medicine and Nursing a professional is not held to the same standard when they offer their assistance for no fee (the prupose of the act is to stop the professionals from refusing to offer assistance at accident scenes due to liability issues).
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Your statement with respect to medical folks is not entirely correct - at least from a legal standpoint. The standard of care never changes per se. Although circumstances can color a situation. Here is a hypo.

Lets say you were at Ruth's Chris, enjoying some dead cow. And all of a sudden, you began choking on a piece of meat. As it turned out, the only way to save your life was to perform an trachiotomy (sp?).

The question becomes - "With dying being the alternative, would a reasonable person reject that form of treatment?" If the answer is yes, and if all goes well, the doctor who intervenes will not be held liable for what technically is a battery. After all, you did not concent to what could be construed as a harmful or offensive contact with your body.

Let's use the same hypo and instead, you needed CPR. Lets say that the doctor that intervened was sub par - performed CPR, saved your life - but caused a bunch of internal injuries that resulted in permenant damage. Are you out of luck? No...

The fact is, as a matter of social policy, we never want to lower the standard of care for professionals - whether they give their services away or not. For one thing, as a society, we expect doctors to work well under stress and pressure. After all, that is part of their training.

There is such a thing as the rescue doctrine. That really applies to lay people. If you are a professional, that will trump much of the benefit that could be dervived from the rescue doctrine..



Why does it not matter if one gives his services away for no consideration? Because the nature of the relationship does not arise through a contract. A bad result often may not lead to a cause of action for malpractice. Despite a doctors or lawyers excersise of due care, things don't always work out to the plantiffs client's/patient's satisfaction.


That said, there is no good samaritan act for lawyers doing pro bono work. You can still be sued for malpractice - since one's malpractice can lead to some form of damage...

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