In 2018, Manatt professionals and employees contributed a record number of pro bono hours, breaking the firm’s existing record for average pro bono hours per lawyer.
In the past year, Manatt attorneys, paralegals, summer associates, consultants and advisors worked to contribute 28,067 pro bono hours and, on average, each lawyer contributed 80.2 hours—a significant increase from 75 hours in 2017. In addition, 85.6 percent of our lawyers contributed at least 20 pro bono hours, up from 75 percent last year.
The firm’s Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles offices recorded the highest average of pro bono hours per lawyer, and the Silicon Valley, Sacramento and San Francisco offices provided the highest amount of office participation.
Some of the high-impact pro bono cases in 2018 include helping Puerto Rican hurricane evacuees obtain housing, successfully upgrading veteran’s discharge status to honorable so that he would be able to access benefits, and opposing the addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census.