Law360 Pulse recently announced its 2022 Social Impact Leaders Ranking, and Wilkinson Stekloff scored second nationally among firms with fewer than 100 attorneys on the standalone pro bono list.
The Social Impact Leaders ranking seeks to measure law firms’ engagement with social responsibility across five pillars: racial and ethnic diversity, gender equality, employee engagement, pro bono service, and responsible business practices. The pro bono pillar is broken out into a separate ranking to allow for more detailed comparison among peer firms, and the score is calculated based on three metrics: percentage of attorneys who provided at least 50 hours of free legal services, overall participation rate in pro bono activity, and average pro bono hours per attorney.
While ranked second in its size category, WS posted the highest percentage of participating attorneys — 85.7% — besting the top-ranked firm. WS has innovated away from the billable-hour model, and its holistic commitment to all clients, including pro bono clients, means it tracks engagement with matters in more meaningful ways than hours, a factor not represented in its score on this list.
WS is proud of its deep and lasting commitment to providing pro bono representation, and the firm has handled more than 80 pro bono matters since its 2016 founding. The vast majority of the firm’s partners and associates devote significant time to pro bono matters across areas including family law, immigration, post-conviction representation, appeals, and the drafting of amicus briefs. WS has been recognized by organizations including Chambers and Partners, the DC Pro Bono Honor Roll, and the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice for making this crucial work a central element of firm life.