Many firms worldwide see such services as key to staff retention
The percentage of law firms offering LGBTQ+ rights-centred pro-bono legal services has increase by 200 percent over the past decade, according to Thomson Reuters Foundation’s “2024 Index of Pro Bono” report.
The report noted that despite 10 years of progress on LGBTQ+ rights, sexual and gender minorities in many countries remain endangered due to homophobic policies set down by authoritarian leaders in countries like Uganda and Poland.
Moreover, the percentage of law firms doing pro bono work on immigration, refugee and asylum matters has increased by 57 percent in the same period as climate change, conflict, political instability and economic uncertainty spurred an uptick in global migration rates. During the 2015 European migration crisis, the percentage of law firms providing pro bono services in this field soared by 71 percent in a single year.
“Over the course of the decade, we can see incredible generosity from law firms in consistently shifting their priorities to meet the needs of the world’s most vulnerable communities, as well as the emergence of a compelling business case for pro bono work,” said Carolina Henriquez Schmitz, TrustLaw director at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, in a statement.
The percentage of law firms that see pro bono as key to staff retention rose by 104 percent in the past 10 years; those that applied it to training and skills development by 62 percent. Firms that established dedicated pro bono employees, committees, or policies recorded 61 percent more pro bono hours in a year on average than those which did not see pro bono as a business function.
However, average pro bono hours have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, and data obtained over the past decade suggest that lawyers’ pro bono commitment may be plateauing after having peaked at 43.4 hours in 2020. Thomson Reuters Foundation attributed this to increased legal sector competition as the arrival of new entrants and emerging technology drives a focus on billable hours.
At present, the global legal sector’s average pro bono hours are 35.6 hours per year.
“Democracies around the world are facing a surge in repressive legal tactics, aimed at shrinking civic spaces and clamping down on human rights. Pro bono legal support to help individuals and organisations navigate these evolving legal threats is more important than ever before,” the foundation said in a statement.
The 2024 Index of Pro Bono is the 10th edition of this report. Feedback was secured from 209 law firms in 123 jurisdictions representing about 100,000 lawyers. The full report can be accessed here.
