The Manchester Arena suicide bombing in May 2017 left 22 dead and over 800 injured. Seven years on from the atrocity and the effects are still reverberating. Following substantial lobbying from the family of victim Martyn Hett, legislation to better protect the public from terrorism is underway. Martyn’s Law was outlined in the King’s Speech […]
CMS has been appointed as legal adviser to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28). The firm has been chosen to provide legal pro bono support for COP28, which is taking place now until 12 December in the United Arab Emirates. This is the first time that CMS has been appointed to advise on a […]
In 2017, Harriet Slater (then a trainee at Ropes & Gray) visited Andy Malkinson in Preston Prison, along with her colleague and white collar associate Mair Williams. At the time, Malkinson had already served 14 years of a rape sentence, to which he had continued to maintain his innocence. Slater and Williams were part of […]
It has been 625 days since Vladimir Putin appeared in a televised broadcast and addressed Ukraine, Russia and the international community to say he would be conducting “a special military operation.” Putin has refused to call it anything but since then. What we did see on that day was, in fact, the largest military invasion […]
With six lawyers in London dedicated to pro bono, Hogan Lovells takes on matters ranging from coroner inquests, human trafficking compensation and war crime claims. The market: Hogan Lovells isn’t alone in putting forward teams of lawyers to take on pro bono matters. Clients are demanding to know what their external advisers are doing in […]
Private practice lawyers may infrequently stray out of their comfort zone, but an Afghan refugee pro bono project saw 70 volunteer lawyers from various international firms and practices do just that. They answered a wake-up call to step into the world of pro bono and immigration law in response to the August 2021 Taliban invasion […]
A recent collaboration with The Nature Conservancy has helped MoFo gain valuable experience in the new world of biodiversity net gain.
The winner of The Lawyer Awards Pro Bono Initiative of the Year in 2023 was DARA, an astonishing collaboration between multiple law firms. We heard how it all works.
Meeting the most urgent legal needs in our communities is a top priority, especially during the cost of living crisis, but the skillset of lawyers with capacity to do pro bono work often does not match the area of need. Can secondary specialisation and investing in increasing supervisory capacity address these issues?
Over the past month, if you walked into the lobby at 70 St Mary Axe, you would be greeted by an array of thought-provoking photos that have come directly from individuals documenting the war in Ukraine. An unusual exhibit to witness in a corporate space, the exhibit was initially going to be showcased in one […]
Reed Smith launched a racial justice working group last year following the events of 2020 with the aim of assessing and discovering areas of pro bono need relating to racial justice and developing new pro bono partnerships with charities and non-profits in the same space. The initiative provides opportunities for Reed Smith’s pro bono to […]
Mishcon de Reya has introduced a new case management system that allows lawyers to better record and track pro bono and ESG-focused work, The Lawyer can reveal. In the same way that fee earners are required to fill out money laundering and client conflict questionnaires when opening new matters, Mishcon lawyers must now answer mandatory […]
Following the launch of a project opening up pro bono opportunities to business services professionals in the legal sector, a number of firms have opted to promote these roles within their teams. Fifth Day, a non-profit organisation, was launched in June and aims to encourage business services professionals to undertake pro bono assignments from third […]
The Free Representation Unit (FRU) has asked lawyers, and anyone else who will benefit from the UK Government’s latest tax cuts, to donate their additional wealth to help improve access to justice and to fund pro bono work. As part of chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget that was announced today, The Lawyer reported that lawyers earning […]
An initiative has been launched by Pinsent Masons’ former head of communications that aims to offer pro bono opportunities to business services professionals in the legal sector. Fred Banning is spearheading the project, assisted by an advisory board of professionals from across the sector including Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom’s marketing leader Jeremy Ford, […]
When Gibson Dunn & Crutcher’s Penny Madden QC met with government officials late last year to discuss then Iran captive Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, she detected an unfamiliar sense of optimism. “It felt like there was some scope for optimism but that it was very measured. And because there were so many false starts in the past, […]