The peak of summer time is sort of upon us, however legislation college students have their future careers on their minds. With so many issues to take note of when contemplating their livelihoods, how can legislation college students create significant distinction between corporations? Maybe they will check out the corporations’ professional bono numbers — which at some corporations, has change into a battle over money versus morals.
Professional bono work has taken on a distinct hue now that Trump is within the White Home, with some corporations afraid to tackle work which may be frowned upon, and others pledging tons of of millons of {dollars}’ value of pro bono payola to conservative causes. However over the course of the final 12 months, earlier than professional bono work grew to become a controversial matter, members of the authorized career sprang into motion to take care of disaster after disaster after disaster, providing their providers with out price to these in want. From immigration and asylum work to racial justice initiatives to defending reproductive rights in America’s post-Dobbs authorized panorama, legal professionals throughout the nation had been impressed to do their best to assist those that wanted their help the very most.
However which legislation corporations had been capable of contribute essentially the most to society?
The American Lawyer has compiled a rating of Am Regulation 200 corporations based mostly on their professional bono work in 2024. Half of their scores come from the common variety of professional bono hours per lawyer, whereas the opposite half represents the share of legal professionals who carried out greater than 20 hours of professional bono work.
Listed here are the top 10 firms in terms of pro bono work carried out in 2024:
- Jenner & Block
- Covington & Burling
- WilmerHale
- Patterson Belknap
- Munger Tolles
- O’Melveny & Myers
- Arnold & Porter
- Dechert
- Gibson Dunn
- Hogan Lovells
It needs to be famous that at every agency listed, the common lawyer carried out greater than 100 hours of professional bono work final 12 months, and the Am Regulation 200 as a complete contributed about 5.12 million hours of professional bono work. These numbers are down barely from 2021, 2022, and 2023, and lag behind the hellish 12 months that was 2020 (when the Am Regulation 200 contributed 5.45 million hours of professional bono work), however leaders within the professional bono area know that significant professional bono work remains to be broadly obtainable for attorneys.
Congratulations to the Biglaw corporations the place attorneys selected compassion throughout yet one more busy 12 months. Your efforts is not going to be forgotten.
The 2025 Pro Bono Scorecard: National Report [American Lawyer]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Regulation, the place she’s labored since 2011. She’d love to listen to from you, so please be happy to email her with any suggestions, questions, feedback, or critiques. You’ll be able to observe her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or join along with her on LinkedIn.
