Once upon a time, a law firm could assuage its guilt by seeking asylum for a Tibetan monk or, if there were no pro bono hours to spare, cutting a check to a Tibetan charity. Then global law firms reached a new level of consciousness, which all too often takes the form of pro bono with bells on. Paul Watchman, who wrote Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's pioneering "corporate social responsibility" report as a Freshfields partner in 2005, said that CSR programs at many London law firms represent "a wafer-thin commitment, primarily used for PR and recruitment." U.S. law firms, he said, are worse...Advocates of the Ruggie principles, like apostles of a new faith, would enforce them ecumenically. "I don't see why law firms should be any different from companies," said Watchman...Most radically, and fundamentally, law firms may have a duty to drop evil clients. The evil client question is at least broached by Freshfields, which remains at the vanguard of CSR. Freshfields is one of only a handful of law firms (Clifford Chance is another) to honor the U.N. Global Compact and look to Global Reporting Index criteria.[also refers to Petrochina, Reed Smith]