What we give

Since 2002/2003, we have used the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) model to measure our community contribution and benchmark our performance against other member companies. In 2006/2007, we used the model for the first time to calculate the monetary value of our international community and pro bono legal advice programme. The value includes the amount of time invested in community and pro bono activities by our volunteers.

Overall, our total worldwide contribution for 2007/2008 was over £4.45m. This is an increase on the £3.48m contribution in 2006/2007 and represents 0.7 per cent of global pre-tax profits. This includes management costs.

Graph of The value of our programme 2006/7 - 2007/8

1 Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Rome, Vienna
2 Beijing, Dubai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo
3 New York, Washington, DC

The exact figures for our 2007/2008 contribution are as follows: London, £2,822,636; mainland Europe, £880,040; Asia and Middle East, £217,743; and the US, £151,823. This gives a total of £4,072,242, excluding management costs.

Using the LBG model our contribution can be broken down into:

  • cash contributions to our community organisations;
  • time spent by our volunteers giving pro bono legal advice (providing our professional legal services to people and organisations in need at no cost);
  • time spent by our volunteers on community activities (including, for example, mentoring programmes, reading initiatives, work experience placements, charity trustees and team challenges); and
  • in-kind giving including providing our design and prints services and office space to our community partners at no cost.

The LBG model values the provision of pro bono legal advice more highly than other forms of community activities as it is professional advice.

Graph of What we give 2006/7 - 2007/8

1 Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Rome, Vienna
2 Beijing, Dubai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo
3 New York, Washington DC

As a law firm our pro bono activities are focused on our lawyers providing legal advice. However, many other people within the firm contribute their expertise to community activities. For example, some of our legal secretaries in London volunteer at the South West London Law Centres; some of our IT people contribute time to the Renaissance website in aid of the Lavender Trust for Breast Cancer Care, and to Reprieve's database; one of our internal communications team provides advice to the Clinton Foundation; and many of our managers host work experience placements at our offices in Germany, London, New York, and Paris. We aim to increase this in the future.

Our community and pro bono data has been compiled according to LBG measurement principles. The LBG model was developed by a group of businesses in 1995 as an internal evaluation tool and as a way to ensure greater consistency and comparability in external reporting. Today more than 100 leading international businesses apply the model around the world.