Our Pro Bono Commitment: Meaningful Opportunities for Our Attorneys and Quality Services for Those Who Most Need Our Help
Our commitment to conscience and community — established by our founding partners and still a core value to this day — includes providing quality pro bono legal services that ensure every person and organization, regardless of financial means, has access to the justice system.
We're extremely proud of our No. 37 ranking on The American Lawyer 2011 Pro Bono Scorecard — an 82-spot jump since 2007. This exceptional improvement is the result of a major initiative to revitalize our dedication to pro bono service and re-establish Foley among the top pro bono firms in the country. Our attorneys and staff responded to the challenge in a big way: In less than four years, we increased our total annual pro bono hours by 192 percent and more than doubled the number of attorneys performing pro bono work.
And, as is often the case, in giving we also receive: Our attorneys gain not only professional experience through exposure to areas of law, procedures, and clients not often available in their day-to-day work, but also a deep, personal satisfaction that comes from achieving justice for those who otherwise would have been powerless to protect their legal rights.
As part of our commitment to pro bono, the committee set a number of goals to improve the quality and quantity of our pro bono service: significantly increase the number of attorneys performing pro bono service and the hours they contribute; expand the variety of service opportunities; and enhance partnerships with other law firms, clients, nonprofits, and law school pro bono programs.
And because we know that policies and goals by themselves won't get the job done, we actively support our words with action. We automatically provide billable credit for the first 100 hours of pro bono work per year, with the opportunity to request additional credit over that amount; launched specialized pro bono practice groups that deepen our capabilities in specific areas and attract more quality projects from referral sources; and strongly encourage all attorneys — regardless of department or practice — to meet their professional responsibility in aiding the underserved. We also accepted the Pro Bono Institute Challenge, which results in the firm's commitment of approximately three percent of all billable hours toward pro bono.
