Top Law Firms Devoted Record Hours to Pro Bono Last Year
The economic downturn didn’t lead to a cut in pro bono hours at the nation’s top law firms last year. In fact, the poor economy may have helped boost the totals.
The American Lawyer found that the total number of hours devoted to free legal work at the top law firms was a record 4.8 million last year. The number of pro bono hours at the average Am Law 100 law firm was 25,893, an increase of 13.2 percent from the previous year. The average pro bono hours per lawyer was 53.6, an increase of 7.7 percent.
Some lawyers told the publication that the downturn freed up time for lawyers to commit to pro bono projects. Said Robert Sheehan, executive partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, “When people aren’t busy, it’s easy to take on a [pro bono] project that’s interesting.” His firm, ranked 30th on the AmLaw list, saw pro bono hours per lawyer jump 28 percent, to an average of 87.4 hours per lawyer.
The top firm on the pro bono list was Chicago-based Jenner & Block. Its lawyers posted an average of 174.8 pro bono hours per lawyer in 2007. Nearly 93 percent of its lawyers devoted at least 20 hours to pro bono.
