Pro Bono

Davina Garrod

Kate Learoyd

Nicholas Donnithorne

The London office’s pro bono activities are co-ordinated by a committee of three partners, Davina Garrod, Kate Learoyd and Nicholas Donnithorne, who are assisted on a project by project basis by other partners and associates at all levels.

Typically the majority of lawyers in the office will voluntarily undertake some pro bono legal work during the course of a year.  The London office has started 2008 with approximately 25 ongoing projects, including representations of individuals in employment and benefit disputes on referral from the Free Representation Unit, advice on copyright issues, defamation and harassment claims, contract advice to various not-for-profit organizations, claims on behalf of a retired couple subjected to financial fraud and bankruptcy assistance, and a project with Amnesty International.

We continue to do work for AIESEC on a number of projects; are participating in the Clinton Foundation HIV-Initiative project regarding employment laws in several countries, mainly in Africa; and are reviewing the Cameroon Criminal Code as part of a Lawyers Without Borders Project.  For the Public Interest Law Institute, we are doing research on human rights issues and assisting on contract issues.  We continue to do work on animal rights issues, and are doing several other transactional projects.  An increasing number of our projects are co-ordinated on either a pan-European basis or across our global network of offices.

Pro bono participation is encouraged actively throughout the Firm and in the London office.  This encouragement goes beyond lip service:  a portion of each lawyer’s pro bono hours are counted as billable hours for compensation purposes.

For further information on the Firm’s pro bono and community service initiatives, please click here.