NASHVILLE (AP) — A recent report shows Tennessee attorneys have increased the number of hours of free and reduced-rate legal services they provide to those in need.

The study by the Tennessee Supreme Court's Access to Justice Commission shows that the number of hours of pro bono service volunteered by attorneys in Tennessee went up by nearly 3,000 hours in the last reporting year.

Reporting pro bono activity is encouraged but not required by the Supreme Court. Although fewer attorneys reported performing pro bono work, those that did reported an average of more than 78 hours in one year, an increase of nearly 6 percent.

Forty-one percent of the 17,980 Tennessee attorneys reported participating in pro bono activity. The total number of hours the attorneys reported was more than 578,000.

The report relies on data collected in 2014 for work done in 2013.