The biggest players in the legal industry aren’t just making big bucks, they’re making big impressions in the lives of people that they’re serving pro bono. New data collated by Legal Compass shows that over 50% of Big Law attorneys have pitched in over 20 hours of pro bono, individually, in 2017. [1] This record smashes all the ones since 2000, which is particularly impressive for a fast-paced, economically driven environment like law.
2016-2017 brought turmoil with it, which proved beneficial for the legal pro bono cause. In the aftermath of a travel ban, to the (still-present) Flint, Michigan water crisis, and refugee crisis, pro bono attorneys were on their feet, making sweeping changes for the good, wherever they went. [2] In an article by Law.com, it was noted that the collective amount of legal pro bono hours that Am Law 200 firms engaged in was valued at over 5 million hours. [3]
Big Law has gotten a bad rap as being a culture that is both cutthroat and competitive. However, any work culture can be seen as good or bad, according to a report by Chambers and Partners. [4] The principal pro about Big Law is its consistent churning out of high-quality legal work, which was evident even with respect to pro bono projects.
If Big Law attorneys, who are oftentimes strapped for time and resources, can turn out so many constructive hours of successful pro bono hours, it’ll set a great example for law firms and smaller law offices to follow suit. The record-smashing numbers will set the precedent to change the public (and other attorneys’) view on Big Law as well.
Links
- https://www.alm.com/intelligence/solutions-we-provide/business-of-law-solutions/surveys-rankings-and-reports/surveys-rankings-and-reports-list/pro-bono-survey/
- https://www.ft.com/content/06fa6d26-5b41-11e6-9f70-badea1b336d4
- https://www.law.com/2018/10/08/data-snapshot-is-big-law-boosting-its-pro-bono/
- http://www.chambers-associate.com/where-to-start/commercial-awareness/what-makes-a-biglaw-firms-culture-good-or-bad
