Compare Akerman Senterfitt's Pro Bono program to those of other large corporate law firms

There's more than one kind of corporate law firm.

There's the kind that encourages and requires lawyers to take an active part in pro bono cases, defending the oppressed. Then there's the kind that has no interest in what BP's Chair would call "the small people,' because it is inhabited by social Darwinists, carpet-bombing the Constitution and defending corporate oligarchs, polluters and thugs, doing

Read the website descriptions of the 500-lawyer AKERMAN SENTERFITT law firm pro bono program (newly revised after I wrote and asked about it). See below. Compare it to the pro bono program at other corporate law firms.

In 2008, AKERMAN SENTERFITT was rated by American Lawyer Magazine as the 171st law firm (out of 200) in terms of pro bono work, which is an embarrassment for Florida's largest law firm, earning a rating of only 12.2. In fact, AKERMAN lawyers averaged a tiny 12.2 hours per lawyer per year on pro bono work, with only 12.9% of AKERMAN lawyers working more than 20 hours on pro bono work during the year.

This compares to 174.8 hours per lawyer average at Jenner & Block.

This compares to 51.2 hours per lawyer average at Holland & Knight, where 39.9 percent of lawyers worked more than 20 hours pro bono.

Harken back to the call from DANIEL SAUL GELBER last week. GELBER could not point to a single pro bono legal representation undertaken by him at AKERMAN SENTERFITT.

Other corporate law firms expect 50 or more pro bono hours a year. Not AKERMAN SENTERFITT, which does not name a single action it filed on behalf of people.

Other corporate law firms vindicate First Amendment rights, like the Pepper Hamilton case challenging "intelligent design" in Pennsylvania. Not AKERMAN SENTERFITT.

Other corporate law firms defend citizens wrongly accused or convicted. Not AKERMAN SENTERIFF or DANIEL SAUL GELBER apparently. GELBER calls himself a "prosecutor" but does not do habeas corpus cases or otherwise help citizens wrongfully accused. His white-collar crime investigation practice produces reports he files with government agencies naid prosecutors, but he has not yet identified his secret clients.

Other corporate law firms are about more than making money. Not AKERMAN SENTERFITT, apparently, the law firm chosen by BP to defend its oil pollution in Florida, the law firm chosen by the City of St. Augustine and racist City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS to try to foist 40,000 cubic yards of illegally dumped solid waste on the African-American community of Lincolnville.

We're still waiting on a list of AKERMAN SENTERFITT clients and answers to questions from DANIEL SAUL GELBER, an AKERMAN SENTERIFF partner/shareholder (he says he was only "Of Counsel" and says he will show me his employment agreement).

Senator GELBER is running against Senator David Aronberg in the Democratic Primary for Attorney General (August 24th).

Aronberg identifies himself as a "real Democrat" in a recent mailing. GELBER worked for a Republican law firm where they make money, but miss the point of being a lawyer -- to help people. AKERMAN is a Republican law firm that fired Mark Herron for representing Albert Gore, Jr. during the 2000 election recount litigation, leading GELBER to tell me "I don't know about that."

Law.com states that "AKERMAN SENTERFITT is a Florida-based firm working out of more than ten offices. The firm ranked 110th on The American Lawyer's 2009 Am Law 200 based on gross revenues, with reported revenues in fiscal year 2008 of $254,000,000. The National Law Journal ranked the firm as the 83rd largest U.S.-based firm in the 2009 NLJ 250, with 489 attorneys. The firm now has offices in Florida's major business centers: Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and West Palm Beach, as well as in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, New York and Los Angeles. Akerman Senterfitt offers a full range of services for corporations and high net worth individuals. Among its practice areas are corporate, real estate, construction, government relations, labor and employment, litigation, and intellectual property."

If you're not a ":corporation or high net worth individual," AKERMAN SENTERFITT sees you as an object to be rolled, just as it did when it tried to foist off on the people of Lincolnville, here in St. Augustine, 40,000 cubic yards of solid waste for a "part" when the State of Florida ordered it put in a Class I landfill (where it now lives, thanks to community activists and no thanks to then-partner WILLIAM PENCE of AKERMAN SENTERFITT, as lugubrious a goober as ever made a chair squeak).