Ropes & Gray Celebrates Record Number of Pro Bono Hours in 2011

It was a banner year for Ropes & Gray’s pro bono program in 2011, with a record number of lawyers and professionals devoting nearly 100,000 hours to providing free legal services to individuals and organizations in need of legal representation. The firm’s lawyers tackled a number of challenging issues on behalf of their clients, including freeing an inmate from death row, securing registration records in a contentious voter rights’ case, winning asylum for individuals facing political and religious persecution, challenging a controversial Florida law that banned doctors from discussing gun safety with their patients and working on an innovative medical-legal partnership.

During 2011, Ropes & Gray saw a 16 percent increase in the number of pro bono hours contributed by lawyers, paralegals, summer associates and other billing professionals across the firm. Collectively, 1,079 of the firm’s lawyers and professionals devoted almost 98,000 hours to pro bono efforts throughout the year. The number of attorneys exceeding 20 pro bono hours rose 12 percent from 2010.

Among notable recognition the firm received for its pro bono efforts in 2011, Ropes & Gray was named to The American Lawyer’s A-List (which is based in part on firms’ pro bono work) and The National Law Journal’s Pro Bono Hot List. The firm also earned the American Bar Association Business Law Section’s National Public Service Award in 2012 and the 2011 Law Firm Pro Bono Award from the Washington, D.C. Bar Association.

Highlights of Ropes & Gray’s 2011 pro bono efforts can be found here in the 2011 Pro Bono & Community Service Annual Report.