Pro bono
Global pro bono 2023-24
53% of the firm’s fee earners took part
>85,000 hours
541 mandates for 271 clients
>1,400 lawyers
In our 2023-24 financial year we contributed over 85,000 hours of pro bono on over 540 mandates. Here are some illustrative examples from the different areas of our practice.
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Advice to NGOs
CHILDREN
We advised SCI’s Türkiye country office on a contract for the supply and installation of prefabricated buildings relating to an emergency housing project to address the displacement of over 2.7 million people following the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye in 2023. The project, which involved co-operation between the Governments of Türkiye and Korea and implemented by SCI and other NGOs, provided accommodation to 500 households in the province of Hatay, as well as creating community spaces, temporary learning spaces and child-friendly social spaces.
IMPACT INVESTMENT
We advised on 25 social impact bonds and development impact bonds, unlocking >£100m funding for social purposes, including advising the British Asian Trust on a development impact bond aiming to enhance literacy and numeracy skills for 4 million children in India.
Strategic litigation
REFUGEES
We continue work on a class action benefitting thousands Iraqi and Afghan refugees who after assisting the US military waited over 1.5 years for visas in a process supposed to take 9 months.
TRAFFICKING
Since 2013, we have worked on 31 interventions and amicus briefs for charities supporting survivors of trafficking. The UK Secretary of State for Justice has also recently promised to introduce prison policy on the treatment of survivors of trafficking in custody, following a successful judicial review in which we represented the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit – a case in which the Court ordered the Justice Secretary to pay £130,000 to charity for Freshfields’ time on the case (the UK’s largest ever pro bono costs order).
Research
LGBT
Our global research to support Stonewall’s workplace briefings has been downloaded over 20,000 times.
WOMEN
50 of our lawyers across 16 countries contributed to the World Bank’s report, Women, Business and the Law 2022 which identifies the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 countries.
Individuals
TRAFFICKING
Record criminal injuries award for a modern slavery survivor who had been held in slavery for over 26 years.
REFUGEES
Collaborated with the Brussels Bar Association and Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen as part of a volunteer taskforce of 292 lawyers from 30 law firms to set up an award-winning refugee legal helpdesk in Brussels which has assisted over 8,000 destitute asylum seekers since April 2022.
WOMEN
Continued support of CourtNav within the Finding Legal Options for Women Survivors project, helping 1,000 women per month to apply to court for protection from domestic abuse.