In House Pro Bono Group

Congratulations to all the in house lawyers recognised today on the Pro Bono Recognition List. The Pro Bono Recognition List, published annually, is open to solicitors and barristers who have dedicated 25 or more hours of pro bono legal assistance in the previous calendar year. It is supported by its patron, The Lady Chief Justice of England & Wales, with the sponsorship of the Attorney General’s Pro Bono Committee and the support of The Law Society, Bar Council and all major pro bono legal organisations. You can view all of the lawyers who each completed over 25 hours of pro bono work in the previous calendar year on the website here: https://lnkd.in/dFM9C_sZ Look forward to seeing those virtual badges on your signature blocks!   #ProBono #ProBonoRecognitionList #inhouseprobono

We are delighted that Visa's UK Legal Team have signed to the In House Pro Bono Pledge. With thanks for Emma Slatter for demonstrating leadership in encouraging pro bono and making volunteering accepted and respected both within Visa and outside. Visa has been very active in pro bono globally for over a decade. They have a Global Committee with an Executive Sponsor (a senior lawyer that reports to the General Counsel) and 19 members, two of whom represent the Europe Committee. The Europe Committee has eight members. They have an evolved programme which provides time off for volunteering and incentives like allotting funds for hours volunteered that can be donated to registered charities. Further, pro bono forms part of employee annual reviews and is considered when providing evaluations for career progression and compensation. This is the gold standard we'd like to see other pro bono programmes ultimately achieve and we'll seek to share learnings from Visa and other Pledge signatories. But tone from the top is always critical. Please read more about Visa's pro bono programme here https://lnkd.in/e36tgpga and we also thank Juan Lázaro Peña and Jo Haas in particular for their support with the Pledge. #wedoprobono #inhouseprobono #inhouseprobonopledge

🌟 Best laid plans....date changed to 3 June⭐ We are delighted to invite you to a hackathon with The Politics Project and Hogan Lovells on how you can support voter registration ahead of the General Election, on 3 June from 5.30pm at Hogan Lovells. With a few weeks to go before the General Election, we hope you can join us in making a difference in how young people and disenfranchised communities can engage in the next election. Yasmin Waljee OBE Harriet Andrews Matt Aleksic The Politics Project MyLifeMySay Citizens UK Register here: https://lnkd.in/eCyYxyJ6

Another wonderful pledge signatory in HSBC whose UK legal team will sign up to the pledge commitments with thanks to Bob Hoyt for supporting this initiative. HSBC have a fantastic pro bono programme led by Tessa Svennevik, Chair of the Global Legal Volunteering Committee at HSBC. You can learn more about the structure of the pro bono programme in our Spotlight Series https://lnkd.in/eYm5Yd94 With tone from the top in place one of the challenges we find about in house pro bono programmes is getting volunteer engagement, and Tessa and Jane Blackwood,  Lead for Global Pro Bono Communications at HSBC, had some great reflections which we set out below. As the signatories' programmes develop and grow on the back of the Pledge we will hope to share learnings and reflections. "How could you make pro bono legal work more accessible and/or appealing to in-house lawyers generally? This is a great question and something we’ve been grappling with recently! Even though HSBC has a well-established pro bono programme, we often see the same faces participating and we want to tap into a wider pool of resource. To find out what the barriers are, we need to ask – so we’re sending out a survey to our lawyers this month on that topic.   As a general thought, greater diversity in the subject matter of pro bono legal projects and clinics may increase involvement. Our in-house lawyers often consider themselves to be subject matter experts in discrete areas of banking and finance law. Projects focusing on economic empowerment and social entrepreneurship can be a good fit. And, with environmental issues becoming of increasing relevance everywhere, including the community and the financial services industry, we hope to be able to contribute more pro bono legal advice in this space soon.    Convenience can also be a factor, especially for the many in-house lawyers who have family commitments to work around. Flexible online opportunities can be appealing, as can those which are close to the office." #wedoprobono #inhouseprobono #inhouseprobonopledge

We are delighted to welcome IHG Hotels & Resorts as a signatory to the UK In House Pro Bono Pledge. Another General Counsel acknowledging the value placed on pro bono and wanting to play a part in addressing the huge unmet need for legal advice from people and charities that cannot afford it. We hope by more companies continuing to sign up to the Pledge we can establish pro bono work as an accepted and respected part of the role of any in house legal professional, as well as creating a climate where in house teams can encourage and show to their external law firm partners that they appreciate the pro bono work they do, and that it matters. Please get in touch if you want to learn more about the Pledge. And thank you to IHG Hotels & Resorts' UK legal team for showing your leadership on this important element of ensuring access to justice. #wedoprobono #inhouseprobono #inhouseprobonopledge

Citi's in house legal team have always demonstrated commitment and leadership on pro bono, and so it is fantastic to have Citi sign up to the UK In House Pro Bono Pledge. Thank you for continuing to lead from the front, and through signatories like Citi we hope to learn best practice in establishing and growing a pro bono programme. You can learn a little more about Citi's pro bono programme here from Sean Grego, Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Jasmin Koelbl-Vogt, Managing Director, Country Counsel Germany/Northern Europe Division Counsel, Citi who talk about (inter alia) the structure of their pro bono committee, sourcing pro bono projects, tracking and really importantly recognition: https://lnkd.in/e296stJU #inhouseprobono #wedoprobono #ukinhouseprobonopledge #law

We are delighted to welcome bp's UK Legal Team as another UK In House Pro Bono Pledge signatory. By GCs signing up to the Pledge we are raising awareness around the ability of in house lawyers to do pro bono work, and ensuring pro bono is recognised as an important and valuable part of our roles. Culture is important in companies, and especially within legal departments, and pro bono can be part of creating that right culture, reminding lawyers of our responsibility to uphold the rule of law and ensure proper administration of and access to justice.

We are delighted to officially announce that Accenture have become a signatory to the In House Pro Bono Pledge. Thank you. Another major company and its legal department demonstrating its leadership and commitment to pro bono. We hope by more General Counsel signing up to the pledge commitments that we can make discussing pro bono less challenging in your company, increase engagement, and acceptance that pro bono work can and should form part of the role of a lawyer whether in house or in private practice. And in doing so, enabling lawyers to feel empowered and have the space to undertake such pro bono work, however small or big the commitment, understanding that we also have to fulfil our work duties as well as juggle busy personal lives. Access to justice should not be just for those that can afford it, and as a profession we have to play a part in ensuring that is not the case. #probono #inhouseprobono

Pledging to do more In House Thanks to the Pro Bono Institute for talking about the UK Pledge. It was also great to hear that the US has 194 signatories to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge, and fantastic to learn about the Australian Pro Bono Centre's National Pro Bono Target and that it was opened up to the in house legal community and has 12 signatories from companies. We encourage companies from the US, Australia and UK to consider signing up to these aspirational goals and therefore for legal leaders to continue to demonstrate the value in ensuring that access to justice is available to all, and not just those that can afford it. https://lnkd.in/gBK987bY #inhouseprobono #wedoprobono

In House Pro Bono Pledge Official Launch After an inspiring In House Pro Bono Day, the In House Pro Bono Pledge was officially launched at the Pro Bono Reception at the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday evening. A big thank you to the 17 fantastic signatories signed up and more to follow. The hope of the Pledge is that by encouraging the leadership in legal departments to endorse the Pledge commitments that the value of pro bono is recognised and participation is accepted, encouraged and facilitated. Through our roundtables we know that one of the biggest challenges of establishing and growing a pro bono programme is getting buy in from the top. And this is ultimately what we're asking General Counsels and Heads of Legal to do - to recognise that as lawyers we have a responsibility to ensure that access to legal support is not just for the privileged individuals or entities who can afford it. It's critical to ensure a fair society, to the rule of law and to enabling justice. “We recognise the importance and value of legal pro bono work to individuals, employees, our company and most importantly, to wider society. It forms part of the contribution we make as an employer, demonstrating our commitment to be a responsible and caring contributor to society. Our legal team commits to the UK In House Pro Bono Pledge and will fulfil its key undertakings. We hugely look forward to using our skills to improve access to justice for all and to playing our part in making a better world.” Thank you to The National Pro Bono Centre and GC100 for collaborating with us on the Pledge and in particular Mary Dobson Smith for her unbelievably hard work enabling us to get the Pledge off the ground and Camelia Thomas for her unswerving support. We also thank Advocate, BACFI, LawWorks and TrustLaw for their endorsement. Finally, thanks to The National Pro Bono Centre, Commercial Litigators' Forum (CLF), City of London Law Society (CLLS) and London Solicitors Litigation Association for co-hosting a wonderful evening and enabling the Pledge to be launched at the event. With thanks to Richard Gray for the great photographs. If you or your company have questions or are interested in signing the Pledge please contact us via our email [email protected] or Mary Dobson Smith. Read more about the Pledge here https://lnkd.in/eTPRb4tK Big thanks to our first signatories - you've inspired and as a result we're sure other companies will join to make a difference. Accenture Airtel Africa bp Citi Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Goldman Sachs GSK HSBC IHG Hotels & Resorts ITV LawFairy LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) nGAGE Talent Ocado Group Taylor Wimpey plc United Utilities Whitbread Plc #inhouseprobono #wedoprobono