Law firms lag behind banks and retailers in supporting local communities, research revealed last week.

In a survey of 200 London community leaders by charity Heart of the City, only 9% cited law firms as the group that did most to help them by giving professional expertise.


Some 29% cited banks as the greatest source of help, and 17% said retailers had helped them most.


Vicky Doughty, corporate social responsibility manager at City firm Linklaters, said: 'Linklaters tends to act for more sophisticated organisations that know what kind of legal help they need, but a lot of work is done by people with a banking background to pull out for them what the problems are.


'We currently endorse 18 different community projects, including sending 65 volunteers to a school in Hackney every week to help pupils with reading and writing.'


Suzanne Turner, full-time pro bono partner at US firm Dechert's City office, added: 'There has been a huge upswing of lawyers and firms willing to give help. We have got to get the word out to communities - there are a lot of untapped lawyers out there.'