Arnold & Porter, Dechert and Debevoise come out on top in pro bono survey
Arnold & Porter, Dechert and Debevoise & Plimpton have topped a survey of law firms that have recorded the highest number of hours spent on pro bono work.
May 28, 2014 at 10:16 AM
3 minute read
Arnold & Porter, Dechert and Debevoise & Plimpton have topped a survey of law firms that measures the amount of pro bono work carried out by law firms.
Out of the 100 firms that responded to the first annual TrustLaw Index by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, lawyers in England and Wales on average perform 21 hours of pro bono each year.
The firm with the highest average of pro bono hours per fee-earner was Arnold & Porter with 91 hours. Dechert followed with 51 hours and Debevoise was third with 45 hours. Latham & Watkins and Reed Smith reported 37 hours and 31 hours respectively while Simmons & Simmons, Freshfields Bruckhaus Derringer and DLA Piper recorded an average of more than 20 hours.
The survey also measured the percentage of lawyers doing 10 or more hours of pro bono work at their firms, recording an average of 36% across all the respondents. Just over half of fee-earners at Latham met this benchmark while at Ashurst the figure was 39%. At DLA Piper, 31% of its legal workforce achieved this measure.
Nicolas Patrick, international head of pro bono and corporate responsibility at DLA Piper, said: "The TrustLaw Index of pro bono is particularly important for the UK legal market, as this survey represents the first serious attempt to benchmark the pro bono performance of UK law firms.
"The firms that set targets for their pro bono practices outperform those firms that do not. Pro bono work must always be treated the same as billable work. The clients must get the same high standards of service, and the lawyers doing the work should receive billable credit for their pro bono work. Given the time pressures faced by lawyers in large firms, the role of law firm leaders in supporting an institutional commitment to pro bono is absolutely crucial."
The report also found that when pro bono counted as part of lawyers' compensation they undertook on average 40 hours of pro bono work a year compared to a figure of 24 for those whose pro bono work was not taken into account. Outside of the UK, US firms reported an average of 74 hours of pro bono work per lawyer each year while the figure for Australian firms was 45. South African firms reported an average of 33 hours for their lawyers.
- How attractive are your firm's benefits? Click here to provide confidential feedback in Legal Week Intelligence's annual employee satisfaction survey.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Ashurst Strengthens Tokyo Office With Partner Hire From Big Four Japanese Firm AMT
K&L Gates Duo Leaves to Reunite with Former Leader at Sreenivasan Chambers
Clifford Chance Among Advisers as Prince Harry Newspaper Hearing Begins
3 minute read
Trending Stories
- 1How ‘Bilateral Tapping’ Can Help with Stress and Anxiety
- 2How Law Firms Can Make Business Services a Performance Champion
- 3'Digital Mindset': Hogan Lovells' New Global Managing Partner for Digitalization
- 4Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Has New York Sentence Pardoned by Trump
- 5Settlement Allows Spouses of U.S. Citizens to Reopen Removal Proceedings
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
