Clifford Chance (CC) has estimated the value of its pro bono activities last year at £17m – breaking convention among City firms by defining the value of its non-profit efforts.

The figure is contained in CC's 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report, which estimates the value based on 57,071 hours invested by its lawyers in community and pro bono efforts.

The firm's non-legal staff committed a further 2,274 community hours while the Clifford Chance Foundation paid out £2.4m in charitable donations.

CC has also issued defined targets for its corporate responsibility (CR) polices for 2010-11, including achieving a more diverse partnership, increasing partner involvement in pro bono activities and targets to boost the amount of recycled paper the firm uses. The firm has set out an aim to increase the number of pro bono and community hours recorded globally by 10% per full-time equivalent lawyer.

The move to quantify the value of pro bono activities is still relatively unusual among UK-based law firms, though it is more common among large US practices. Likewise, the publication of CR reports remains relatively rare among law firms, though it has become common at major public companies in recent years.

The report, issued this week, also provides figures on diversity. The report says that just 2.6% of CC's partners in London are from an ethnic minority background. The number compares to 18% of the overall lawyer count in the UK, and 10.7% of business services staff.

However, the stats show that CC has a more diverse footprint overseas, with the New York and Washington DC offices boasting almost a third (30.8%) of lawyers self-reporting as an ethnic minority, and 41.7% of business services staff. However, among partners the proportion is still low, with only 4.8% of US partners coming from an ethnic minority.

The report also outlines firmwide gender representation, with 14.5% of partners currently female, against 48.4% of total lawyers and 68% of CC's business services staff.

The news comes after CC named City disputes specialist Roger Leese as its new pro bono partner in September. Leese succeeded public policy and government affairs partner Michael Smyth, who is retiring from the firm this month.