DLA Piper awarded CSR Initiative of the Year at British Legal Awards

DLA Piper has been recognised by the British Legal Awards 2022 for creating the CSR Initiative of the Year. The award recognises the firm’s work in supporting displaced Ukrainians and Afghans through creating a secure digital portal to provide access to critical legal information, and mobilising resources from across the sector, providing a host of timely and targeted support and advice to those in need.

The portal, which was developed at pace with AND Digital and Legal Connection, ensured a secure and efficient means through which client needs could be captured and triaged. It also created a route to then connect people to a volunteer who could provide the requisite advice. The project further saw the recruitment of over 300 volunteers from other law firms, to support the 130-strong team of DLA Piper volunteers from across its seven UK offices. This ensured enough resource to meet the critical needs of over 5,000 Afghans and 4,500 Ukrainians to date, and go some way to relieve the additional pressures placed on the immigration sector over the past year.

Olivia Clark, UK Pro Bono Manager and Senior Associate at DLA Piper, comments: “This projectwas born from an urgent need for information and support in the wake of two huge humanitarian crises. It was made possible by a determined and combined effort from a myriad of names from across our industry. It’s fantastic for the work to receive this acknowledgement, and to have a light shone on the efforts by our team and our peers to ensure as many people, have as much access to as much information as we could make possible.”