Arnold Bloch Leibler has celebrated a new pro bono record set by the firm’s partners and lawyers.
The firm’s pro bono contribution is included in the Australian Pro Bono Centre’s 17th Annual Performance 2024 report of the National Pro Bono Target. The seminal report highlights that lawyers working in large Australian law firms (with 50 or more lawyers) delivered an average of 39.7 pro bono hours per lawyer in FY24, against the voluntary pro bono target of 35 hours per lawyer. This reflects an outstanding contribution across the profession, under the esteemed leadership of the Centre.
In FY24, Arnold Bloch Leibler’s lawyers created new firm records by carrying out 16,900 hours of pro-bono public interest law work, which is on average more than 2.7 times the APBC’s 35 hours per lawyer voluntary target. The value of that pro bono work totalled more than $12 million, which is also a record for the firm.
In a note to staff, ABL’s public interest law partner Peter Seidel commented on the firm’s pro bono contribution: “These unprecedented numbers reflect the firm’s public interest law direct responses to extremely challenging times, particularly our heightened support of clients and causes fighting racial discrimination, including anti-semitism and systemic racism towards Indigenous Australians.
Congratulations once again to all Arnold Bloch Leibler partners and each and every ABL staff member for contributing, directly and indirectly, to this truly outstanding result”.