McKool Smith has put into place a pro bono program that connects our newly minted attorneys, who need real-life courtroom experience, with poor defendants who aren't poor enough for public defenders.

"We have a supply of young lawyers dying to learn how to try cases. But our cases are so big that if they go to trial, first-, second- or even third-years aren't going to be the people standing up before the judge and picking the jury," -- Robert Manley, principal in charge of pro bono work.

There's a demand from people who have small cases, who can't afford lawyers but desperately need one.  In the last four years, McKool attorneys have taken on nearly 40 cases. A little more than half of those made it to a verdict. All but a handful of those decisions went in their clients' favor. 

Some clients are referred to McKool by the pro bono criminal justice clinic at Southern Methodist University or by local criminal defense attorneys.