b'BACK TO NAVIGATIONAn increasing number of law firms, solicitors, barristers and in-house legal teams have become signatories to the National Pro Bono Target (the Target), managed by the Australian Pro Bono Centre (the Centre). The Target, alongside the growing expectations of government and corporate clients, are factors that have increased the number of structured pro bono programs within firms and in-house legal teams. Through these programs, lawyers are supported and encouraged to undertake pro bono legal work for socially disadvantaged and marginalised persons and the organisations that support them.The Centre has worked with AusLSA to incorporate pro bono program information into its Sustainability Framework since 2015. The Centre oversees the Target, which provides the most frequently used measure of pro bono performance in Australia. Law firm signatories agree to use their best efforts to provide at least 35 hours of pro bono legal services per lawyer per year. The Centre opened the Target on 1 July 2020 to in-house legal signatories who commit to using their best endeavours to achieve at least 20 hours of pro bono legal services per in-house lawyer per year.Since the Target was established in 2007, the number of Target signatories has increased from 58 to 280. This year the number of lawyers covered by the Target increased by 6.3 per cent compared to FY2021. Signatories to the Target now cover 17,463 FTE lawyers who conducted a total of 645,509 hours of pro bono legal work in FY2022).The Annual Target reports from the last two years covered a significant period affected by the bushfire disaster, the east coast floods, the west coast disasters and the COVID pandemic which increased the urgency and demand for pro bono support. Following two years of high growth, in pro bono hours, FY2022 saw a flattening of this growth with total pro bono hours undertaken by signatories increasing by only 0.55 per cent. According to the 15th Annual Performance Report of the Target, signatories undertook an average of 37 pro bono hours per lawyer (equivalent to 359 lawyers working full-time for one year, which is a reduction from 39.7 hours in 2021.In addition to purely pro bono work, law firms can conduct Legal work for a substantially reduced fee. This year 47 signatories undertook 16,787 hours of substantially reduced fee work reducing from 59 signatories undertaking 19,258 hours of substantially reduced fee work in FY2021.PROBONO ASPIRATIONAL TARGET NO DATE SET TARGET MET DATE SET44%41%15%47'