The National Pro Bono Centre in Australia has released its Ninth Annual Performance Report on the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target, which was developed by the Centre in 2006 to enhance access to justice.
The target is a voluntary and aspirational target of at least 35 hours of pro bono legal services per lawyer per year. The target was chosen in consultation with the legal profession, and represents the minimum number of hours that all lawyers should aspire to. Target signatories are required to report on their performance each financial year, and the Centre uses this data to produce an annual Performance Report.
In the financial year 2016, the report shows that 11,185 Australian lawyers provided 402,216 hours of pro bono – equating to 223 lawyers working pro bono full-time for one year. It marks the first time since 2011 that, as a group, signatories have met the target, reporting an average 36 pro bono hours per lawyer. This represents an 8.3% increase on the pro bono hours on 2015.
“There has been growth across the board”, according to John Corker, CEO of the Australian Pro Bono Centre. “Of the 37 large firms (that is, firms with 50 or more FTE lawyers) that reported in both 2015FY and 2016FY, 26 reported an increase in pro bono hours per lawyer, and 17 reported growth of more than 20%. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen this level of growth.”
“In a tightening legal services market, it is a tribute to the dedication of these firms that they have maintained and grown their pro bono programs despite today’s competitive challenges”, said Corker.
Factors in the overall growth of pro bono include more firms being strategic about their pro bono legal and community investment plans, new opportunities for firms to become involved through clearinghouses and pro bono referral schemes, and more work being done in areas of high unmet legal need such as migration, where there is little government assistance available.
The Centre sees this increase as demonstration that the target remains well-positioned as a benchmark for the conduct of pro bono legal work, by providing a robust and achievable goal which encourages firms to support and develop their pro bono culture, practices and programmes.
Click here to read the report in full.