DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary's pro bono arm has picked three international projects and announced how many hours its lawyers will commit to pro bono work this year.

New Perimeter, the firm's not-for-profit affiliate, which coordinates its overseas pro bono activities, has committed more than 13,000 lawyer hours, with an estimated value of more than $6m (£3.19m), for 2006.

The three projects that will benefit from the firm's input this year are the South Africa Litigation Centre, the Global Foodbanking Network and the CHF International Micro Financing Project.

Elaine Radford, head of corporate and social responsibility for Europe and Asia, told The Lawyer: "CSR has become an incredibly important part of the service provide by law firms. When I first took up my post in 2000 we were very naïve about our approach and impact. Now we have an international portfolio - it's a far cry from charity cake baking competitions."

New Perimeter was formed after DLA's merger with Piper Rudnick Gray Cary in 2005. Last year, lawyers at the firm completed more than $6m of pro bono work. This included assisting the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria on developing a whistleblower complaint system, and drafting a legal structure for the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.