Working with international charities

As an international law firm we often work with international charities and community organisations, or work on comparative pieces of laws – usually within our four main areas of focus or reinforcing our diversity and climate change commitments. An early example of this included our pro bono work on child abduction with Parents and Children Together across member states of the EU.

Working with Oxfam, Médecins du Monde, One World Action, Plan and more

In 2008 we joined the pro bono panel of Oxfam UK and are helping the charity with a number of projects. In 2009 we are sending two trainees for a three–month secondment to Oxfam UK.

In 2008 we also began pro bono work with Plan UK on two innovative funding projects and will continue to develop that relationship throughout 2009. Our offices in China, Germany, Hong Kong and Paris have also developed relationships with Plan over the years, while Half the Sky is supported in our China, London and New York offices.

We are working with One World Action in supporting its development work overseas and recently hosted an event for Médecins du Monde to highlight its work across the world. We were also recently instructed by Save the Children UK.

HIV/AIDs and the Millennium Development Goals

We continue to provide pro bono advice to the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in connection with its partnership with UNITAID to supply HIV/AIDS treatments (particularly for children) in 38 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. In 2008, lawyers from our Amsterdam, London, New York and Paris offices also began work on a joint Lawyers Without Borders and Save the Children project relating to property and inheritance rights for women and children in Africa in light of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Through our membership of Advocates for International Development we are advising the Fairtrade Foundation and the HIV Alliance.

Our contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (eight targets to be achieved by 2015 focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalisation becomes a more positive force for all the world's people) is centred on these initiatives, along with our activities in Africa, our firmwide efforts to combat climate change, and our involvement in WaterAid. Through this we aim to play a role in helping to eradicate poverty and hunger, reduce child mortality, combat HIV/AIDS and ensure environmental sustainability.

We also have a well-established partnership with Habitat for Humanity: since 2001 our volunteers and fundraisers have contributed to housebuilding projects in Ghana, Poland, Romania South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and London, and to the recent establishment of the sustainability fund to help the charity develop more environmentally-friendly low-cost housing, reflecting local needs and traditions in its housebuilds around the world.

As our pro bono programme develops we anticipate more international pro bono work, but also a greater focus on local community investment activities – in line with our emphasis on providing volunteering opportunities for all our people, and our desire to make a positive impact on society. This also reflects the views of the people who work here, and is in keeping with our commitment to reduce air travel.

Find out more about what we are doing in Africa