2011 Mid-Year Hours Results Available

This summer the Law Firm Pro Bono Project again conducted a brief survey of Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge^® Signatories’ pro bono hours to detect trends at the mid-year point and to preview where 2011 may be headed based on the impressions and estimates of respondents from major law firms.

This survey serves as a snapshot in time of firms’ pro bono hours and participation estimates, and similar to the first half of 2010, a year in which pro bono at Challenge firms dropped 8.56 percent (yet was still the third highest year in the history of the Challenge), the results are mixed.  Respondents are more optimistic about their firms’ future pro bono hours for July-December 2011, with the majority predicting their firms’ pro bono hours will increase or stay the same for the last six months of this year.

Respondents also echoed our belief that quantitative metrics, most notable the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge^®, are important, but not sufficient, indicators of the value of law firm pro bono service.  To that end, PBI is continuing with our ongoing effort to develop a framework that will enable firms to evaluate the impact and quality of their pro bono work.

For a copy of the Law Firm Project 2011 Mid-Year Pro Bono Survey Report, click here.

What trends in law firm pro bono service are you experiencing?  Leave a comment and let us know.