In the Law360 article, “How Jenner & Block Is Living Up To $250M Pro Bono Pledge,” Co-Chair of Jenner & Block’s Pro Bono Committee Debbie Berman discusses the firm’s five-year, $250 million pledge to provide free legal assistance to those most in need. The firm recently released its annual pro bono report The Heart of the Matter to document its pro bono work and is on target to surpass the goal, having already provided $200 million in free legal services at the end of the third year.
The article conveys the firm’s long-held values, the depth and breadth of our work, the dedication of our lawyers, and the important pro bono partnerships we have with our clients.
In 2023, Jenner lawyers logged over 82,000 pro bono hours, which amounts to an average of 164 hours contributed per lawyer. That is more than three times the 50 hours of work that the American Bar Association recommends as a minimum for lawyers to complete.
When asked what motivated the firm to commit resources to a five-year pledge, Debbie said, “We thought by being quite public about what we do, and how much we do, that it might inspire others in the industry to join us — and that includes clients.”
When discussing our corporate partnerships, Debbie said, “A lot of our in-house clients really want to be able to do pro bono, but they don't have the apparatus within their corporations to be able to do that. They don't have a pro bono coordinator, or dedicated attorneys like we do. So we meet with clients that are interested, we find out what their mission is, what kind of pro bono they want to try to do to amplify their corporate mission, and then we give them sort of a menu of different options. Then, Jenner lawyers partner with their in-house lawyers to work on those projects.”
As for what makes Jenner’s pro bono program stand out, Debbie said, “When we're recruiting lawyers, one of the things that we're going to talk about is the firm's generous commitment to the community. People who don't share that commitment won't be attracted to Jenner & Block. So that's one big difference: Everybody is all in at Jenner & Block on pro bono, not just a small group of people.”
“Another significant difference is that most of our pro bono is grassroots, meaning that our lawyers do what they care about and what they're passionate about,” she added.
Finally, when asked about the return that the firm gets from pro bono work, Debbie discussed the benefits we get in helping associates hone their skills, the passion pro bono work inspires in lawyers, and the opportunity to do good with our corporate clients.
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