Law for The Poor

2388
FORDHAM LAW REVIEW
[Vol. 78
minimum goal per attorney. Of those, twelve listed sixty hours and fifteen
listed fifty hours. Of the remaining firms that reported goals, one was
higher than sixty hours and eight were less than fifty. 1 28 Of course, setting
benchmarks does not ensure that they will be met, and we do not have
figures on how many firms succeeded.
A crucial factor in determining performance is how firms treat pro bono
hours relative to billable hours-and how unpaid work affects
compensation and promotion decisions. Table 6 shows how firms that
responded to our survey counted pro bono activity for different types of
performance decisions.
Table 6: Counting Pro Bono Hours (N=56)
% of All
Count Toward:
Respondents
Minimum billable hour 70%
requirements
Lockstep compensation 30%
awards
Bonus determinations 77%
Partnership draws 13%
Performance reviews 82%
In over four-fifths of firms (n=46), pro bono activity figured in
performance reviews, and in over three-quarters (n=43) it counted toward
bonus determinations. By contrast, very few reported that pro bono
mattered in calculating partnership draws and not even one-third counted
pro bono toward associate lockstep compensation (n=17). Seventy percent
of the firms (n=39) indicated that they counted at least some hours toward
minimum billable hour requirements. Of those that provided information
about the number of hours, a third (six of eighteen firms) stated that all pro
bono hours counted; another third (seven of eighteen firms) capped hours at
various points (four capped at fifty hours, one at sixty, one at one hundred,
and one at two hundred). Two firms imposed a limit with discretion to
exceed it upon firm approval and one counted only pro bono hours over one
hundred toward billable hours. The remaining two firms had vague
standards. One counted a "certain number" without specifying how
128. Our survey also asked the firms if they set pro bono participation goals. Forty
percent (n=22) indicated that they set goals for the percentage of firm attorneys who do pro
bono work. Of those, eight had a goal of one hundred percent participation, another six
chose between seventy and eighty percent, one put the goal at sixty-five percent, another at a
"majority," and the final firm stated, "We aim for at least 40% of our attorneys hitting the
50-hour standard--that's the goal set by the D.C. Circuit's Standing Committee on Pro
Bono" (Survey Respondent 52).