all else equal, does moderate pro bono (100-200 hrs/per year) help or hurt with partnership? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Biglaw partner. My firm requires 20 hours (as in, you will not get a bonus unless you bill 20 hours of pro bono a year) and strongly encourages attorneys to do more. 100-200 hours a year is not remotely unusual and would affirmatively help your partnership case so long as you are meeting/exceeding your billable targets. I was asked by multiple people about what my pro bono practice looked like during my partnership process. I am confident that I would not have made partner had I done significantly less pro bono than I had.

A separate point is that, contrary to received TLS wisdom, there is vastly diminishing utility to the number of hours billed after a certain point for partnership purposes. It is far more important that you are getting the right type of experience, working with the right people, and building the right connections internally and externally than billing a ton of hours. And pro bono, while not a moneymaker in the conventional sense, plays a critical role in helping to get you substantive experience, getting your name out there, building your external network (especially if you are getting pro bono work through a PI organization that works with multiple big firms), etc.

very important at my amlaw50 (L&E assoc here). you are going to get called out if you aren't doing your bit of pro bono and i've heard from partners in my group that you're very much expected to make pro bono work a part of your time at the firm.