Spain: Barcelona and Madrid

'There is very real enthusiasm for getting involved in our community and pro bono programme in both our Spanish offices, and our team challenges are always immensely popular with the people who work here. So we're looking forward to getting more involved in taking forward our wider social and environmental commitments in 2009.'
Miguel Klingenberg, partner responsible for CSR in Barcelona and Madrid and member of our community and pro bono committee

We have a committee made up of lawyers and people from business services, that co-ordinates and develops the community and pro bono activities in our Spanish offices. In addition to team challenges and festive season events, groups of volunteers have been involved with sporting initiatives for young people.

The Spanish offices are also actively engaged in pro bono work for various organisations.

Community Challenge

In October 2008, as part of our second Community Challenge, volunteers from the Madrid office spent a day at an old people's home. Volunteers participated in a number of activities with the residents including games, singing, dancing and talking to them about their life experiences. The Madrid office also donated items for the residents' bedrooms.

Volunteers from the Barcelona office donated and assembled cupboards and glued corkboard up on some of the walls at Centre Compartir – a new community centre for immigrant children of the Barrio Raval in Barcelona. Later the volunteers accompanied the children to their weekly swimming lessons. The community centre is open every day so that children can take part in sporting activities or do their homework after school, keeping them occupied and off the streets until their parents return home from work.

'One always has an image of lawyers – greatly influenced by clichés – of serious, extremely intellectual people of a very strong character and a cold, insensitive nature… but on 21 October this year, this image was broken. To spend an entire morning working with you all in the Gothic quarter of Barcelona, assembling cupboards and mounting corkboard on to the walls for the youth community centre was a delight, a real pleasure and simply wonderful. And when you met up in the afternoon with the children with whom we work, either at the swimming pool or on the sportsfield; you reinforced this image of devoted and enthusiastic people, keen to learn and to help others. A very heartfelt thank you.'
Miquel Martínez, Centre Obert Compartir