Recent highlights: community investment and pro bono legal advice

'After reading through Freshfields' CSR and diversity policy, their community activities (especially the 35 years working in Tower Hamlets), all their homeless projects, schools projects and not forgetting their awards; without hesitation, I can say that Freshfields was the one and only law firm to give me the certainty and belief that, notwithstanding my background and ethnicity, there was no reason why I could not be a City lawyer and feel comfortable and accepted in that environment.'
Koser Shaheen, new recruit

Increased participation in our community and pro bono volunteering activities: from 24 per cent of people firmwide contributing 25,000 hours in 2006/2007 to 29 per cent and over 30,000 hours in 2007/2008.
The international rollout of a pro bono campaign. This is designed to increase the amount of time contributed to providing free legal advice, both to individuals in need and to our community partners. We aim to double the hours contributed to our pro bono programme by 2011.
Community Challenge – our first worldwide community initiative in 2007 involved over 600 people in 23 offices. Our 2008 team challenge month involved nearly 700 people.
Our pro bono human rights work with Liberty and Justice, on extraordinary rendition with Reprieve and REDRESS, and our success in overturning the death sentence on a Trinidad and Tobago citizen at the Privy Council in London.
New pro bono relationships with Oxfam, Médecins du Monde and One World Action.
Various new pro bono activities in Africa, including our work with Lawyers Without Borders and Save the Children relating to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, support for International Lawyers for Africa and for Africans Unite Against Child Abuse. This is in addition to our continuing pro bono advice to the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative targeted at children in 38 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Winning the 2008 International Financial Law Review European pro bono award for advising Deutsche Bank on the first externally-rated securitisation of subordinated microcredits by DB Microfinance. These subordinated loans will help 21 microfinance institutions make an effective contribution to the fight against poverty by distributing at least 120,000 very small loans to microbusinesses in 15 developing and emerging market countries.
Receiving the Exceptional Achievement 2008 Managing Partners' Forum Award for our 35-year partnership with Tower Hamlets Legal Advice Centre in London. Around 40 per cent of our current partners in London have been involved in this centre at some point during their career.
Being awarded a Business in the Community (BITC) Big Tick in both 2007 and 2008 for our Ready for Work programme. This provides work experience placements to homeless people and since 2000, 141 individuals have completed placements at the firm. From these, 15 have taken up permanent jobs here and several others have gone on to work elsewhere. The Big Tick is given to organisations that can demonstrate the positive impact of their responsible business behaviour on society, as well as on the organisation itself.
With Citi, KPMG, and BITC, presenting our recommendations and volunteering toolkit to various Members of the European Parliament and European Commission, to encourage and enable more businesses to support employee volunteering activities across the EU (particularly those schemes that help improve essential employment skills for disadvantaged groups within the EU). Several of our projects were showcased including our job coaching scheme in Frankfurt, the discovery day in Paris for school pupils, work placements for homeless people in London and our Number Partners scheme which helps to improve maths and financial literacy in schools in the UK.
Leadership in the campaign to fill 40,000 vacancies in school governing boards in the UK as part of our involvement in BITC's Education Leadership Team. The research we commissioned was presented to the Department for Children, Schools and Families, used to encourage other law firms and other employers to support school governors during 2008 National Pro Bono Week, and led to an increase in the number of our people volunteering as school governors.
The launch of the Inspiring Student Leaders programme with Youth at Risk, which enabled the charity to take its work into British universities for the first time. The scheme works with students at Bedfordshire, London Metropolitan and Thames Valley universities, and is supported by the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills.
The launch of the Children's Legal Service Unit following our three-year commitment to sponsoring Shelter's UK-based work to end child homelessness.
Our support and participation in research by the New Economics Foundation, commissioned by Business Action on Homelessness. The research investigated the financial and other barriers to employment for homeless people in the UK, helping to establish what financial incentives would be required to motivate people back to work and deliver an overall net gain to government.
The launch of our matched funding programme in London to encourage and recognise the many ways that the people who work here raise money for charities and community organisations. We also matched funds raised by our people in China and Hong Kong in response to the Sichuan earthquake and the cyclone in Myanmar.