The bottom of Craig Martin's biography at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP includes an exhaustive list of the nonprofit boards he's been on before and after becoming chairman of the BigLaw firm last summer. This spring, he will add chair of the board of directors of Lyric Opera of Chicago to the list.

But for Martin and other law firm leaders, being on nonprofit boards is more than a philanthropic footnote to their careers. They say being on boards for these organizations also makes them better attorneys.

"Lawyers have an obligation to commit to the communities in which they live," Martin told Law360 Pulse. "It's that simple."

Board work can teach attorneys about executive governance and allow them to network with potential colleagues or clients. If attorneys with the time and resources can work for boards while avoiding conflicts of interest, law leaders said nonprofit service will actually serve them.

"I wouldn't be the lawyer that I am today without all the experiences that I've had in leadership roles and in nonprofit board work," Duane Morris LLP's Los Angeles managing partner Cyndie Chang said.

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