Kirkland & Ellis celebrated A BIG pro bono victory earlier this year when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling striking down a North Carolina voter identification law.

In July 2016, Dan Donovan, a Kirkland litigation partner, led a team that persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to overturn the law, by arguing that North Carolina lawmakers had passed it with the intent to discriminate against minorities.

But a few months after that Fourth Circuit ruling, in September 2016, Kirkland hired Paul Clement, former U.S. solicitor general and a top U.S. Supreme Court and appellate lawyer. Clement represented North Carolina in its effort to re-instate the voter identification law. He argued at the Fourth Circuit that the law increased African-American turnout. The timeline highlights the knotty questions firms can face when it comes to selecting pro bono matters. How does a firm balance pro bono causes chosen by its lawyers with obligations to paying clients? Are conflicts often created? How do firms deal with it?