“At Kirkland & Ellis we are committed to advancing the local and global communities in which we live and work. To fulfil that mission we dedicate substantial energy, talent and resources to an array of meaningful causes and initiatives that reflect our values and vision.”
Over the last year, lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis London have provided pro bono services to a diverse range of organisations and benefitted enormously from the experience of clients and challenges outside of their usual legal work. More importantly they really made a difference to the people they worked for. Pro bono hours are billable hours for associates and our firm aims for each associate to spend at least 20 hours per year on pro bono work. Pro bono opportunities are available to lawyers at all levels, including Vacation Scheme participants and trainees. Kirkland & Ellis has partnered with the University House Legal Advice Centre, one of London’s oldest legal aid organisations, to provide volunteer staff for its weekly housing clinic in the East End of London. Since the housing clinic’s inception in 2017, 48 Kirkland & Ellis lawyers from the London office have dedicated nearly 600 pro bono hours and assisted over 100 Legal Advice Centre clients in need. The clinic provides free legal support to vulnerable individuals facing housing issues such as homelessness, evictions, poor living conditions and others. Since the autumn of 2015, Kirkland & Ellis lawyers have represented low-income clients with disabilities in Employment and Support (ESA) appeals. The success rate for appeals without representation stands
at over 50% and the success rate for appeals with legal representation stands at over 80%. Kirkland & Ellis lawyers work in teams to handle clients’ appeals. Since the project’s inception, 100 Kirkland & Ellis lawyers have dedicated nearly 5,100 pro bono hours, assisting 92 clients in need. In 2018, Kirkland & Ellis lawyers around the world devoted nearly 11,400 hours to LGBT- focussed pro bono work, including 4,900+ hours to the case challenging the ban on transgender service members in the US. support, pro bono assistance and funding to a wide range of charities. Kirkland & Ellis started to work with them in 2007 and has donated hundreds of pro bono hours to their initiatives. Charitable donations In 2018, Kirkland & Ellis donated more than $20 million to 1,300+ charitable and law-related organisations. In the UK these include: Chance UK, Hackney Quest, Spitalfields Crypt Trust, Blue Sky, Robes Project, 999 Club, Hillside Clubhouse and The Honeypot Children’s Charity. Impetus-Private Equity Foundation (Impetus-PEF) provides management
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