Activities in Asia and the Middle East

Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo

‘Involvement in our community and pro bono programme has long been important to us, and we have a committee that co-ordinates many of our activities. The firm-wide Community Challenge initiative was a great opportunity for all our offices in Asia to step up this activity. In 2008, we look forward to being more actively engaged in the firm’s broader social and environmental initiatives, conscious as we are that our responsibilities are growing like the economies we operate in.’
Connie Carnabuci, partner responsible for CSR in Hong Kong, and chair of the community and pro bono committee for Hong Kong and China

Final hour appeal

Every Christmas, a Final Hour Appeal is organised by our people in Hong Kong, usually in collaboration with the Beijing and Shanghai offices. People are invited to donate their final hour of salary for the year to a chosen charity.

The 2007 appeal was run in association with Plan International to collect funds to replace the inefficient, dangerous and unhealthy heating methods at Liu Qian He middle boarding school in northern China, where the average temperature in winter months is minus 15°C.

The 2006 Final Hour Appeal was for Little ZheHan, a 14 year old martial arts prize winner with leukaemia, and the International Justice Mission, in which one of our former lawyers now works full time and which focuses on child slavery and human trafficking. In previous years, funds raised have been used for providing equipment for the Children’s Cancer Centre in Hong Kong, building a school in Cambodia and two primary schools in Ningxia, funding a microfinance programme supporting a school for impoverished families in the Fujian Province, and supporting the Save the Children Angel Tree Project for children of prison inmates and children who witness domestic violence.

Working with children

Other regular activities include visits to and parties for homeless and disabled children in residential centres, day trips for children who wish to improve their English, regular visits to Po Leung Kuk orphanage and cleaning up beaches through the charity Greenpower.

Crossroads

Our Hong Kong office holds volunteer days for Crossroads, a relief agency that sorts and packs goods donated by Hong Kong residents and ships them to those who are less fortunate in Asia, Africa, South America and Europe. Around 20 people spend Saturdays helping the charity sort and pack items; without additional volunteers, it would take the charity two years to sort and ship its donations by itself.

We have also provided pro bono assistance to Crossroads and helped them secure the intellectual property rights for their global Helping Hand logo.

Helpers for domestic helpers

In Hong Kong, we participate in a programme called Helpers for Domestic Helpers (HDH), providing advice, counselling and guidance for (primarily foreign) domestic helpers in Hong Kong. HDH deals with employment and immigration issues and human rights issues affecting foreign domestic helpers. It aims to help them understand their rights in Hong Kong and to enforce these rights. On Sundays, when most domestic helpers in Hong Kong are released from work, volunteers from Freshfields, other law firms and investment banks now advise the helpers who drop in.

Our Hong Kong office recently became involved in the new pro bono roundtable designed to encourage and promote more pro bono work.

Shanghai

Our Shanghai office has been advising British environmental charity Plant a Tree Today Foundation (PATT) on its expansion into the People’s Republic of China. PATT establishes community-based forestry projects in developing countries, working with corporate partners, governments, nongovernmental organisations and other bodies.

Tokyo

People in our Tokyo office participated in the annual International YMCA Charity Run, an event held and organised by the Tokyo YMCA that raised money for the Challenged Children Project at YMCA camps around Japan. Volunteers also participate in a charity soccer competition involving law firms and financial institutions, the proceeds of which go to help a refuge for trafficked women and other charities.

United Arab Emirates: Dubai

‘We are the newest office within the firm; having spent the last few months settling in, we are looking forward to getting more involved in the firm’s social and environmental activities in 2008.’ Joe Huse, partner with responsibility for CSR in Dubai

Our office has been working with the Ministry of Environment in its drive to make UAE ‘greener’ and has made a significant contribution to the Ministry’s environmental programme.

Vietnam: Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City

Volunteers have been working with Operation Smiles to support children born with facial deformities. Our offices in Vietnam also provide financial support to the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, which provides immediate needs such as accommodation, healthcare and food for street kids while preparing them with skills for life (through schooling, vocational training and social programmes). In 2006/7, our support enabled the organisation to set up its first residence for street kids in Hanoi; it currently has 14 residents, who are also being offered education and training. Our help has enabled Blue Dragon to expand its operations so that it can offer more homes and training for street children.

Community Challenge

Our offices supported a variety of community challenges as part of our first firm-wide community and pro bono initiative. The Beijing office spent a day at a school for children of migrant labourers, taking part in activities such as book donations, teaching English to the children, sharing experiences of college and work, and treating the teachers to lunch.

Staff in the Hanoi office raised money for Operation Smiles to support surgery for children born with facial deformities. Staff visited the hospital, meeting the children, giving them gifts and books, and helping cheer them up before surgery.

Volunteers from our Hong Kong office worked with Missionaries of Charity, a non-profit organisation that provides shelter and food for the homeless. They assisted with a number of tasks, including preparing and serving food, washing clothes, cleaning windows, chopping vegetables, clearing the garden and sweeping/washing paths.

Volunteer staff from the Shanghai office went to the He Miao Primary School and taught English to 49 grade 5 pupils. They also took them to lunch and then to an aquarium for a lesson on sharks.

In their first team challenge, volunteers from our Tokyo office worked for the Wheelchair Access Map (WAM) Project, a scheme that provides information on area accessibility for people confined to wheelchairs. The volunteers worked in teams, with one wheelchair per group, to gather information on accessibility in the Shibuya area using handheld maps and markers for WAM’s new website. This site will serve as a message board so that those in wheelchairs can communicate and facilitate relationships.