The path from junior associate to experienced counsel often feels like a slow, meticulous climb. While billable work provides essential training, the highest-value opportunities, such as leading client conversations, arguing motions, or negotiating complex deals, often take years to reach.
Now, we’re seeing professional development teams partnering on the new training tool: pro bono work.
It’s no longer viewed simply as a philanthropic endeavor. Leading firms strategically leverage pro bono as a powerful, high-speed engine for talent development. According to the Thomson Reuters 2024 Index of Pro Bono, 73% of law firms now formally use pro bono work for training and skill development – a significant increase from the previous year.
If you’re looking to accelerate your career, here is why pro bono is the most valuable professional development tool at your disposal.
1. Skill Mastery Through High-Stakes Ownership
The greatest hurdle for a junior attorney is gaining real, substantive ownership of a matter. However, associates are rarely allowed to run point on a billable case without heavy supervision. Pro bono removes this friction to give them valuable on-the-ground experience. The work regularly presents the opportunity for associates to argue in court, serve as the main point of client contact, and drive the matter forward early in their careers.
The experience gained is invaluable:
- First-Chair Experience: Whether in family, immigration, or housing court, associates often get to stand up and argue motions or conduct evidentiary hearings; the kind of advocacy that might take five years to achieve on a corporate matter.
- Case Management: Attorneys learn to triage competing deadlines, manage all facets of discovery, and counsel a client through uncertainty; skills traditionally reserved for senior counsel.
- Doing More with Less: Pro bono cases sometimes force creativity and resourcefulness, teaching attorneys how to build strong cases under tighter resource constraints.
This fast-tracked ownership creates better, more confident, and more marketable attorneys for the firm.
2. The New Language of Business Development
For established attorneys, the value of pro bono shifts from skills training to relationship building and business alignment. As our friend Ben Weinberg, Pro Bono Partner at Dentons, perfectly encapsulates, “Pro bono is the new golf.”
What does that mean? Collaborative pro bono projects are a low-pressure, high-impact way to forge deeper connections with existing and prospective clients, as well as team-build internally.
When a firm and a corporation partner on a pro bono initiative, they are collaborating on shared values, not just transactions. The tremendous impact of these corporate partnerships creates a powerful, mission-aligned network. This shared experience fosters trust, demonstrates legal proficiency in a non-billable setting, and ultimately leads to stronger commercial relationships.
3. Formal Recognition and Career Trajectory
Perhaps the most compelling evidence that pro bono accelerates careers is how firms formally integrate it into their evaluation systems. If you believe pro bono is “just extra work” that won’t be valued, think again:
- 80% of law firms factor pro bono hours into their formal appraisal processes.
- 57% of law firms factor pro bono into compensation decisions.
Firms are not just counting hours; they are explicitly rewarding the demonstration of leadership, ownership, and professionalism that pro bono fosters. Pro bono is an important way to build vital skills that get lawyers noticed, and can be a positive factor on the long road to partnership.
The investment in pro bono talent also translates directly to retention. Nearly 47% of firms report using pro bono initiatives as a tool for staff retention, recognizing that purpose-driven work reduces burnout and increases loyalty among associates.
Conclusion: Your Pro Bono Portfolio is Your Greatest Asset
If you are an attorney seeking to stand out, gain early responsibility, and build a powerful, values-aligned network, embracing pro bono is essential. It is the only guaranteed way to access high-stakes leadership experience early in your career.
It’s time to stop viewing pro bono as an obligation and start viewing it as the most efficient professional development engine your firm offers. Reach out to your pro bono leads to get started today.
Kristen Sonday
Kristen is the Co-Founder and CEO at Paladin. As a first generation-college Princeton graduate, Kristen first witnessed how complicated our judicial system is to navigate while at the U.S. Department of Justice conducting international criminal work in Mexico and Central America. As one of the few Latinos on the team, she saw the immense value of having an advocate with you throughout the legal process, which inspired her to want to build something to increase access for those in diverse communities. After DOJ, she joined the Founding Team of YC-backed Grouper, where she learned how to build a startup from the ground up. In addition to Paladin, Kristen Co-Chairs the Legal Services Corporation’s Emerging Leaders Council and is a partner at LongJump, investing in overlooked founders in the Chicago area.
More from Kristen
