The pro bono contributions of lawyers at three major Florida-based firms decreased sharply last year, while contributions at a fourth major firm increased slightly, according to new data collected by The American Lawyer magazine and the Daily Business Review.

In their responses to the annual Am Law 200 survey, Akerman Senterfitt, Greenberg Traurig and Holland & Knight reported that the hours spent by their U.S. lawyers on pro bono work for indigent clients declined 14 percent to 16 percent from 2005 to 2006. Akerman and Holland also reported declines in the number of their lawyers who performed more than 20 hours of pro bono work last year.

In contrast, Tampa, Fla.-based Carlton Fields reported that its lawyers' pro bono hours increased by more than 3 percent.

The American Lawyer survey includes only those that are likely to be among the 200 highest-grossing firms in the country.

Pro bono leaders at Akerman and Greenberg attributed at least some of the reported decline to inaccurate record keeping for pro bono work. A Holland leader attributed his firm's pro bono drop to a significant reduction in the number of lawyers at the firm.

The reported decline in pro bono work comes after several years in which leading firms in south Florida and around the country have reported record revenues and profits.

"Where that's really disturbing is it doesn't bode well for the future, because they are pulling back from establishing a standard that is a high standard, an expectation," said Kent Spuhler, the executive director of Florida Legal Services, a Tallahassee, Fla.-based nonprofit that provides assistance to local legal aid agencies.

The report of declines in pro bono work comes on the heels of a January speech by Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara J. Pariente in which she lamented a decline in pro bono contributions by Florida lawyers.

She focused particularly on the nearly 50 percent drop between 1998 and 2005 in hours of pro bono work performed by lawyers through legal aid organizations. Pariente also pointed to Florida Bar Foundation statistics showing that almost 10,000 fewer lawyers -- 16,618 versus 26,031 -- donated time to local legal aid agencies in 2005 compared with 1998.

Akerman reported pro bono contributions averaging out to 6.5 hours of work per lawyer in 2006. That's significantly below the 20 pro bono hours a year recommended by The Florida Bar and the 50 hours recommended by the American Bar Association. The firm reported that total pro bono hours by its lawyers decreased by 16 percent last year.

Greenberg Traurig reported that its lawyers' pro bono contributions averaged out to about 20 hours per lawyer in 2006. Overall, pro bono hours contributed by Greenberg lawyers dropped by 14.7 percent last year.

Holland & Knight reported that pro bono contributions averaged out to 50 hours per lawyer in 2006. Total pro bono hours by the firm's lawyers dropped by 15 percent in 2006.

Carlton Fields' pro bono contributions averaged out to 41 hours of work per lawyer in 2006. Lawyers at the firm totaled 3.5 percent more pro bono hours than the previous year.

Lawrence D. Silverman, an Akerman shareholder who has won numerous awards for his pro bono work, said most litigators contribute "several multiples in excess of 20 [hours], but they don't write them down. What people recorded into the Akerman system is not what people did."

Matthew B. Gorson, Greenberg's national operating shareholder in Miami, said the pro bono information submitted for the Am Law 200 survey was an estimate: "Not everybody records all of the [pro bono] time, so it becomes somewhat difficult to get an exact number."

Stephen F. Hanlon, the Washington-based partner who heads Holland & Knight's community services team, said that his firm's pro bono drop was caused by the loss of 150 lawyers over the past year.

DEFINITION TOO RESTRICTIVE?

Some large firms in south Florida have established minimum pro bono requirements for associates and credit pro bono hours toward billable hour targets. A few, like Holland & Knight and Hogan & Hartson, have established full-time pro bono divisions.

But other major south Florida firms have taken a more laissez-faire approach. They simply encourage attorneys to get involved in the community, or they donate money to legal aid organizations. Such firms include Akerman Senterfitt, Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, Ruden McClosky and Becker & Poliakoff.

In addition, most of these firms don't keep careful track of the pro bono hours provided by their lawyers and don't require associates to complete a minimum number of pro bono hours.

Since 1993, the state Supreme Court has required most Florida Bar members to report their pro bono contributions each year. The high court also established a goal for attorneys to provide at least 20 pro bono hours annually or contribute at least $350 to a legal aid organization serving poor people.

But 15,000 of more than 72,000 Florida Bar members in good standing did not report their pro bono contributions in the last reporting cycle. That number includes judges and other Bar members who are not required to report.

The Bar doesn't verify the pro bono information lawyers submit. There also are questions about whether all the reported pro bono hours fall within the Bar's definition of pro bono work -- providing legal services to the poor. Many attorneys count their service with arts and community organizations that do not primarily serve the poor.

Akerman's Silverman said the pro bono numbers his firm reported to The American Lawyer are based on the hours the lawyers in the firm recorded on their time sheets. But because pro bono hours do not count toward compensation, he said, "Most people don't write it down on their time sheets. I don't."

Akerman does not count pro bono hours towards billable hour targets set for associates and does not require its lawyers to perform a minimum amount of pro bono work. "There is something unorthodox about requiring charity," Silverman contended. "That's a contradiction in terms."

Greenberg's Gorson argued that the Am Law 200 survey's definition of pro bono -- legal services donated to the poor (which is also the Florida Bar's and ABA's definition) -- does not capture all the valuable contributions that lawyers make to their communities.

"Generally, [lawyers] do more than anybody else when I look around at the charities in the community and who is supporting them," Gorson said. "There is a disproportionately high percentage of attorneys involved in helping, and I'm very proud of the legal community for doing that."

On top of that, he said, Greenberg Traurig associates who choose not to do pro bono work must contribute at least $350 to two-year public interest law fellowships funded by the law firm and administered through the Washington, D.C.-based Equal Justice Works. All Greenberg partners contribute to the fund as well.

Holland's Hanlon noted that his firm met its target of averaging 50 pro bono hours per lawyer. "We do 50 -- that's our goal, and we hit it every year, and we have no intention of increasing that," he said.

Hanlon said Holland's community services team, which is composed of 11 lawyers who perform pro bono work on a full-time basis, is the largest practice group of its kind in the country.

According to Florida Bar statistics, Florida lawyers have increased their pro bono contributions dramatically during the last decade. But the Bar acknowledges some slippage in pro bono work over the past few years.

According to the Bar, Florida lawyers contributed about 100,000 fewer hours to pro bono work during the 2005 Bar year than they did in the 2004 Bar year. Money contributed by lawyers to legal aid organizations dropped by nearly $400,000 in the same period.

Bar statistics show that the pro bono hours bounced back during the 2006 Bar year but remained slightly below what they were in 2004.

Merrick "Rick" Gross, president of the Dade County Bar Association, said south Florida lawyers are doing better than those in the rest of the state when it comes to pro bono.

"I think the picture in south Florida is not reflective of the rest of the state," said Gross, an Akerman partner. "Statistics show that there is an increase in the level of pro bono" in south Florida.

Gross cited a legal hotline recently set up by his organization and a pro bono clinic launched by the Cuban American Bar Association as examples of south Florida lawyers' commitment to serving the indigent.

Karen J. Ladis, the project coordinator of Miami's Put Something Back Pro Bono Project, said that lawyers donated more time to her organization last year than in 2005. Last year, Put Something Back served fewer clients than the year before, because the program started doing intake two to three days a week as opposed to four days a week, she said.

Randall Berg, who runs the Volunteer Lawyers' Program for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, said the number of hours donated by lawyers to his program last year remained stable compared with 2005.

But Kimberly Ligman Zaffere, the pro bono coordinator at Legal Aid of Broward County, said her organization has experienced a 30 percent decline in the number of hours donated by lawyers since 1998.

Spuhler, of Florida Legal Services, said the bottom line is that pro bono contributions by the state's lawyers are not keeping pace with the growth of the state and bar membership: "The basic point that Justice Pariente is making and that we concur in strongly is that pro bono participation either through direct service or even through contributions is not expanding like it was hoped when the pro bono rule was first initiated."

While most Florida lawyers do not practice in large law firms like Akerman and Greenberg, he said, the pro bono policies of such law firms are important because "they set what is the culture of being a lawyer in a state."