Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1016, Doing Pro Bono Work.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1016.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development right here in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Jack and Claire about doing something called pro bono work, where you basically volunteer some of your time to to a community organization to do the kind of work that normally you get paid to do.
Let's get started.
Welcome to the firm.
Are you getting the hang of things here?
I am.
I worked in another firm for two years before coming here, so I have some experience under my belt.
But let me ask you one thing.
Is the firm serious about wanting each person to do five hours of pro bono work each month?
It is.
This firm takes community service very seriously.
Everyone does pro bono work and everybody is expected to hit the target of 60 hours each year.
This is so different from my previous firm.
There...
Everything was about billable hours.
Nobody cared about anything but how many hours we could rack up with each client.
Billable hours are important here, too, but we bill ourselves as the firm with a social conscience.
That's what sets us apart from our competitors.
If you fall short of your expected pro bono hours, believe me, you'll hear about it.
It's refreshing to work for a firm that's not all about the bottom line.
Maybe just 98%?
That's right.
And in this industry, that's unheard of.
Our dialogue begins with Claire saying to Jack, Welcome to the firm.
A firm F-I-R-M is another word for a company usually a company that offers what we might call professional services.
Lawyers, for example, usually call their companies a firm.
A firm is a group of lawyers working together to steal your money.
No, just kidding.
Claire welcomes Jack to the firm.
He's obviously a new employee at the firm.
Claire says, are you getting the hang of things here?
To get the hang, H-A-N-G, of something means to become comfortable doing it, to learn how to do it.
She's asking Jack if he's figuring out the way things work at this particular law firm.
Jack says, I am.
I worked in another firm for two years before coming here.
So I have some experience under my belt.
The phrase under my belt, B-E-L-T is, means that you have a certain amount of experience or skills, or that you have done something for a certain amount of time.
Your belt is the thing that goes around the top of your pants, to hold your pants up so they don't fall down.
But the expression under my belt just means that I have this experience.
I've done this sort of thing or I have these kinds of skills.
Jack says, but let me ask you one thing.
Is the firm serious about wanting each person to do five hours of pro bono work each month?
Pro-PRO, Bono, B-O-N-O, is... doing something that you are normally paid to do for free.
So if you are a doctor and you work at a hospital normally, you might volunteer on the weekend to work at a clinic for poor people.
That would be doing pro bono work.
It's what you normally get paid to do, but you're doing it for free.
At Jack and Claire's law firm, each lawyer is expected to do five hours each month of pro bono work.
In other words, the company expects them to volunteer five hours of their time each month.
Claire says the company is very serious about this.
She says the firm takes or considers community service very seriously.
Community service is time you spend volunteering to help organizations in your community.
To volunteer, V-O-L-U-N-T-E-E-R, is to work without getting paid.
Claire says everyone does pro bono work and everybody is expected to hit the target of 60 hours each year.
To hit the target T-A-R-G-E-T means to meet a goal, to achieve the amount of something that you are expected to achieve.
We often use that word target in a business setting when we're talking about the goals and objectives, especially numerical goals and objectives.
When you're supposed to have a certain number of things done or perhaps a certain amount sold of your product.
Jack says, this is so different from my previous firm.
There, meaning at his previous firm where he used to work, everything was about billable hours.
Billable B-I-L-L-A-B-L-E hours is time that you spend working for a customer or a client that you can charge the client for.
Lawyers, for example, usually charge by the hour, which means they say well, if it takes me four hours to do this, then I'm going to charge you 100 an hour or 200 an hour or 500 an hour.
Billable hours are the hours you work for someone that you can then bill them for.
You can then charge them for.
The word bill, B-I-L-L, refers to a demand for someone to pay you a certain amount.
If you go to a restaurant, they'll bring you a bill for your dinner.
We also call that in a restaurant a check.
But in the general sense, in other business settings, we would call it a bill.
Jack says at his old company, his old firm...
Everything was about billable hours, meaning the only thing that the firm cared about was how much money you made for the firm.
Nobody cared about anything but how many hours we could rack up with each client.
To rack R-A-C-K up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to get a large number of something, to increase the amount of something.
We often use this phrasal verb in a negative sense, when you are getting too much of something that you don't want.
You could talk about racking up too much debt, having too many things. loans that you need to pay.
You could talk about racking up credit card bills, having different credit cards and needing to pay money on those credit cards because you're using them, of course.
So rack up can be a positive thing or it could be a negative thing.
It's often used in a negative way, although here in this sentence, it's a positive thing.
Claire says billable hours are important here too, but we bill ourselves as the firm with a social conscience.
Claire uses the word bill here as a verb in a somewhat different way than we just heard a few minutes ago.
As a verb, to bill can mean to charge someone.
But it can also mean to characterize yourself or advertise yourself in a certain way.
And when it's used that way, it's usually followed by the word as.
We're going to bill ourselves as the best company in Los Angeles.
That's what we're going to advertise to people.
That's what we're going to tell people about ourselves.
He bills himself as the funniest man in Hollywood.
He considers himself, and he tells other people that he is the funniest man in Hollywood.
Not me.
I'm not the funniest man in Hollywood.
I don't even work in Hollywood, but that's another story.
Claire says this law firm bills itself as the firm with a social conscience.
The term social conscience C-O-N-S-C-I-E-N-C-E refers to realizing knowing that you are part of a larger community and that you want to try to help the larger community.
A company with a social conscience might, for example, Give money to volunteer or charitable organizations in order to help them.
The term conscience refers to your ability to recognize right and wrong.
When we talk about a social conscience, we're talking about being aware of and helping the community around you.
It's especially popular when talking about businesses nowadays.
Claire says that's what sets us apart from our competitors.
To set something or someone apart.
A-P-A-R-T means to make yourself unique and to make yourself better than other people.
To separate yourself, or we might say to differentiate yourself, to make yourself different from other people.
Your competitors, C-O-M-P-E-T-I-T-O-R-S, are the other companies in the same kind of work that you are, that are trying to get the same clients that you are.
Claire says, if you fall short of your expected pro bono hours, believe me, you'll hear about it.
The expression to fall short is a verb meaning to not do as well as you are expected to do.
The phrase believe me is used to emphasize that what you are saying to this person is true.
You may say, for example, believe me, I understand your problems.
You are assuring the person that you understand them.
You are telling them that what I am telling you is true.
You could use this in lots of different circumstances.
Whenever you think the person may not believe you, or think that you're telling the truth or are being completely honest, you might use this expression.
Believe me.
Believe me, I really want to go to this show, but I'm busy at home tonight.
Perhaps the person doesn't believe that you really want to go to this show.
So that's an example of how you would use that particular phrase.
Claire says that if you fall short of your expected pro bono hours, you'll hear about it.
When someone says you'll hear about it, what they really mean is that you are going to be in trouble.
Someone is going to yell at you or someone is going to punish you because you did something wrong.
Jack says it's refreshing to work for a firm that's not all about the bottom line.
Refreshing, R-E-F-R-E-S.
S-H-I-N-G means it's new, it's interesting, perhaps it's exciting even.
Jack says it's refreshing to work for a firm.
That's not all about that.
Doesn't just care about the bottom line.
The term bottom line refers to how much money the company makes, how profitable we might say the company is.
Claire says, don't get carried away.
That expression, don't get carried away, means don't get too excited about something.
Don't take this idea too far.
Don't exaggerate.
She says this firm is still here to make money.
Even though the firm has a social conscience and has its lawyers do pro bono work doesn't mean it doesn't want to make money.
Claire says it's just not 100% of its focus.
It's not what it does 100% of the time.
Jack then says maybe just 98%.
Claire says that's right.
And in this industry, that's unheard of.
If something is unheard of, it is not typical.
It is not common.
It is almost never seen.
It's very rare.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Welcome to the firm.
Are you getting the hang of things here?
I am.
I worked in another firm for two years before coming here, so I have some experience under my belt.
But let me ask you one thing.
Is the firm serious about wanting each person to do five hours of pro bono work each month?
It is.
This firm takes community service very seriously.
Everyone does pro bono work, and everybody is expected to hit the target of 60 hours each year.
This is so different from my previous firm.
There, everything was about billable hours.
Nobody cared about anything but how many hours we could rack up with each client.
Billable hours are important here too, but we bill ourselves as the firm with a social conscience.
That's what sets us apart from our competitors.
If you fall short of your expected pro bono hours, believe me, you'll hear about it.
It's refreshing to work for a firm that's not all about the bottom line.
Don't get carried away.
This firm is still here to make money.
It's just not 100% of its focus.
Maybe just 98%?
That's right.
And in this industry, that's unheard of.
Our scripts are so great because they're written by someone with hundreds, if not thousands, of script writing hours under her belt.
The one and only Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
