The combined firm says it is the first global firm to put a pro bono commitment in its constitution, after more than 174,000 pro bono hours in 2025. Legal AI company Harvey, meanwhile, is piloting a pro bono programme with pro bono leaders at major firms.
Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, the combination of Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft that launched on 1 July, says it has become the first global law firm to write a formal commitment to pro bono and broader citizenship into its constitution, Australasian Lawyer and Canadian Lawyer report. Under the new partnership deed, the partnership commits to pro bono work and support for the communities it serves, alongside the provisions covering ownership, leadership and operations.
Chief executive Miguel Zaldivar said the firm's "5-2-1 strategy" names "Our Society" as one of five priorities and that embedding pro bono in the constitution makes clear "that creating positive impact is a fundamental part of who we are and how we define our success". Lord Goldsmith KC, the former UK attorney general who chairs LawWorks, welcomed the move as "an excellent example for all lawyers operating in the UK". International pro bono partner Yasmin Waljee, whose 1997 appointment the firm describes as the first of its kind in Europe, said: "Hours are the means; impact is the measure."
In 2025 the firm's workforce contributed more than 256,000 "Responsible Business" hours, over 174,000 of them pro bono, and since 2015 its policy has asked every lawyer and business services professional for at least 25 hours a year, an expectation that now covers the combined firm. Hogan Lovells described the combination, approved last April, as the largest law firm merger in history.
Separately, legal AI company Harvey said in September that it is launching a pro bono programme in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, working first with senior pro bono leaders at firms including Perkins Coie, DLA Piper and Nelson Mullins as design partners, LawNext reports. Harvey said it will provide legal engineering staff for the project, measure how its tools affect pro bono capacity, and give an initial cohort of direct legal services organisations free access in a pilot later in the year.
