A l ife experience
Clyde & Community The firm is also involved in various pro bono initiatives. Most of our trainees, as well as the future trainees currently at law school, participate in pro bono of some kind and find that very often it gives them a highly rewarding and different perspective on how the law can make a positive impact on people’s lives. They also find that they gain a valuable insight in terms of developing their confidence and ability to relate to people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, which are vital skills for any well-rounded lawyer. The firm has a global policy that up to 50 hours of firm-approved pro bono activities will be credited towards fee earners’ billable targets and, as such, these hours are treated as chargeable work. Access to Justice As a major international firm, we have a role to play in enabling communities around the world to secure fair access to legal advice and justice. Our Employment and Immigration team runs an innovative pro bono clinic to help Brent Citizens Advice Bureau in dealing with the increasing number of employment and immigration law queries, following the cuts to civil legal aid. The clinic operates remotely using Skype technology and was awarded the Best Community Engagement Award at the Managing Partners’ Forum 2015. Our Dubai office was a founding firm of the first pro bono court in the UAE and was the recipient of the first Access to Justice Award in recognition of our support and involvement. The San Francisco office is affiliated to the local AIDS Legal Referral Panel. It has also been instrumental in the establishment of a new children’s museum through the provision of pro bono advice. We also work closely with the Fair Trade Foundation providing pro bono legal training on contract law and practice to Fair Trade cocoa producers in the Ivory Coast.
Community Investment We donate both time and money to a variety of charities around the world including Asia Water Foundation, Childline, Dubai Cares, The Community Chest of Hong Kong, The Mission to Seafarers and WaterAid. We make donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee when appeals are made for assistance. Recent donations include the Syria Crisis and the Nepal Earthquake appeals. We are also involved in a schools programme, which is dedicated to providing fair access to quality work experience. We run a number of schemes throughout the year and source our students from a network of schools. The spirit behind these schemes is to form a coaching and mentoring relationship with the students until such time as they are ready to embark on their chosen career.
22
Made with FlippingBook HTML5