This article was originally published here
The past few years have been boom times for advocates of socially responsible business practices. The impacts of climate change, a global pandemic and a national reckoning on racial justice have pressed businesses of all stripes to take stock of their own practices, and renew their commitments to do good in the world and do better by their own employees.
These forces are putting new pressures on law firms to dust up their social impact bona fides — and some are finding that making social responsibility a strategic imperative is not just doing good, it may also be good business.
A sense of social responsibility has always been part of the legal profession. Pro bono work, the practice of providing free legal services to those in need, is built into the rules of professional conduct, with the ABA recommending that lawyers "aspire" to deliver at least 50 hours of pro bono legal services every year.