Today, Law360 Pulse released its new Social Impact Leaders ranking. The new scorecard evaluates law firms on four key indicators of “socially responsible business practices:” racial and ethnic diversity, gender equality, employee engagement and 
pro bono service. Ever since The American Lawyer started ranking law firms in 1985 – “profits per partner” has remained the dominant metric of law firm success. If rankings drive change – the Social Impact Leaders report could prove to be an important lever of transformation.
The “How Does Your Firm Measure Up” and “Sizing Up Firms’ Pro Bono Work” reports are publicly available on the Law360 Pulse website.
Key highlights:
- Covington & Burling, Orrick, WilmerHale, Morrison & Foerster, and Arnold & Porter are the top 5 firms on the Social Impact
Leaders ranking. The top 10 is rounded out with O’Melveny & Myers, Cooley, Wilson Sonsini, Patterson Belknap, and Jenner & Block.
- Selendy & Gay, Orrick, Patterson Belknap, Jenner & Block, and Arnold & Porter top the list of pro bono work, which ranks firms based on what percentage of their attorneys did at least 50 hours of pro bono service in 2020.
- Most attorneys don’t meet the 50-hour threshold, which is the American Bar Association’s yearly recommendation for all lawyers. At the average firm in the survey, just 27.1% of attorneys met the benchmark. However, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe nearly two-thirds of its attorneys exceeded the threshold.
The Social Impact Leadership ranking draws on data from the Law360 Pulse inaugural pro bono survey as well as their annual Glass Ceiling and Diversity Snapshot reports.
Next month, Pulse editors will look at attributes which contribute to a firm’s prestige. January ,there will be a final ranking that also assesses the firms’ transactional and litigation work, to come up with a total score for the firms that make our list.
Law360Pulse which launched in January 2021 offers trend analysis, special reports and metrics. The service is available as an upgrade to the Law360 news platform which is owed by LexisNexis.
