Hughes Hubbard Remains Among Top Firms on AmLaw’s Pro Bono List

June 29, 2017 — Hughes Hubbard maintained one of the top spots in The American Lawyer’s annual pro bono special report, ranking second among Big Law firms for U.S. pro bono commitment in 2016.

According to the report, published in the magazine’s July 2017 edition, HHR came in second place nationally with a 115.7 pro bono score. The rankings are based on a score that combines the percentage of lawyers who performed 20 or more hours of pro bono work with the average number of hours contributed in 2016.

The American Lawyer ranked those components independently, placing HHR fifth in average hours with 131.4 hours per U.S. lawyer and second in breadth of commitment (percentage of lawyers who performed 20 or more pro bono hours).

A feature story, headlined “A Good Deed Every Day,” reported that 100 percent of Hughes Hubbard’s lawyers did at least 20 hours of pro bono work.

“We’ve ratcheted up the focus in recent years to get the maximum impact from our hours,” Ted Mayer, chair of the firm, told the magazine. He also noted that the firm expects lawyers to put 50 or more hours toward pro bono. “That dovetails very much with other goals like letting our lawyers work on things that they are really passionate about and train associates very well.” 

The story also noted that HHR devoted substantial time –3,876.2 hours – to, among other projects, prisoner rights issues, representing prisoners in 10 civil rights federal court cases. “In six of those cases, the firm secured financial settlements for its pro bono clients, while in another, Hughes Hubbard’s lawyers helped protect a Muslim prisoner’s right to pray in prison recreation yards.”

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