Top firms are formalizing pro bono commitments — but coordinator roles and lawyer capacity remain elusive
Canadian Lawyer's fourth annual 5-Star Pro Bono Firms report has named 17 law firms and legal departments to its 2026 list, selected from 33 nominees in partnership with Pro Bono Ontario (PBO).
The report finds that pro bono legal work is becoming a matter of infrastructure in Canada, with firms moving from aspiration to accountability — though the profession still has ground to cover.
The share of firms setting formal pro bono targets has climbed from 15 percent in 2023 to 44 percent in 2026, while 92 percent of respondents confirm that partners and C-suite executives personally provide pro bono services. Yet dedicated coordinator roles — described in the report as the connective tissue between policy and practice — dipped from 65 percent of firms in 2023 to 55 percent in 2025 before recovering to 64.5 percent this year, signalling those positions remain vulnerable to capacity pressures.
The demand side is stark. PBO volunteer lawyers served a record 38,480 clients in 2025, a 16 percent year-on-year increase, while more than 10,000 calls came through PBO's Free Legal Advice Hotline in Q1 2026 alone — and 90 percent of callers said it was their first opportunity to speak with a lawyer.
Winners were recognized across large, medium, and small firm categories, as well as in-house legal departments, with honorees including Norton Rose Fulbright Canada, Pink Larkin, the Law Office of Edward J. Kafka, and CIBC's legal department.
