Pro Bono

• Since 2017, more than million Mozambicans have fled their homes because of conflict and climate-related disaster. DLA Piper Africa Mozambique has reviewed and analysed the country’s laws to help UNHCR advise the government on a national framework for protecting internally displaced persons that aligns with international standards.

• GenderCC South Africa is a member of a global movement working for gender and climate justice. We’re helping GenderCC with legal requirements and contracts related to the Urban Agriculture Project. This initiative will improve climate resilience and food security, and create sustainable jobs at urban farming sites across Johannesburg.

• As a trusted pro bono partner to UNHCR, DLA Piper Africa firms provide invaluable support to UNHCR’s work across multiple jurisdictions in Africa, including novel analytical guidance on the development of laws to protect internally displaced people and stateless persons.

• Over 100,000 people living in East Africa are stateless, making it hard for them to access education, healthcare and formal employment. DLA Piper Africa firms in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia are helping UNHCR on this challenge. They’re exploring how provisions of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child that grant children the right to a nationality can be domesticated into national law. This would help ensure children in East African countries are protected from statelessness. 

• In Melbourne, one of our lawyers is seconded to the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service. They're working on a range of civil and human rights issues for Indigenous clients. 

• In Hong Kong, solicitors assist at the Rainlily clinic. There we advise women who have experienced sexual harassment and discrimination and help them to seek compensation through the Equal Opportunities Commission.

• We teach practical legal skills courses to Pacific Island law students. Courses cover access to justice, rule of law, pro bono, client interviewing skills, legal ethics, and drafting file notes and letters of advice. These skills help them transition from university to careers as lawyers.  

• Our lawyers provide advice and capacity building support to Pacific Islander entrepreneurs and Indigenous tech startups to assist with growth.

• In Belgium, we work with the Brussels Bar Association to run a legal helpdesk for asylum seekers. This helpdesk was set up in 2022 in response to the ongoing reception crisis in Belgium. It gives everyday legal information and help to hundreds of asylum seekers denied access to appropriate accommodation, food and medical care.

• Our lawyers deliver legal education training courses for refugees in 17 countries including Germany, France, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Belgium and Italy through Know Your Rights, our flagship programme. We've hired lawyers with lived experience to help us to deliver support to refugees.

• In France, we run a pro bono clinic to help asylum seekers navigate the complex asylum system. We recently helped two girls from West Africa, who were at serious risk of female genital mutilation, obtain asylum.

• We support a number of NGOs in Greece, including the Greek Council for Refugees. We support them on strategic litigation before the European Court of Human Rights on issues such as pushbacks and detention. We also have a secondment programme where lawyers work for the Greek Council for Refugees in Athens. 

• We use technology to increase access to justice and to connect displaced people with lawyers. 120 of our UK lawyers gave legal advice and information to over 4,300 Ukrainian clients through the Ukraine Advice Project. We worked with a technology startup to build a secure platform that connects Ukrainians with lawyers in a chat-style messaging service.

• Cross-practice teams of lawyers are supporting Carbon 13, the only UK-based business accelerator focussed exclusively on carbon reduction. Our lawyers advise new ventures on the risks and pitfalls of startups and identify where they need technical advice. We create long-term partnerships to help ventures build and scale to achieve their climate ambitions.

• We responded to the crisis in Afghanistan by running a legal information and advice project to help over 5,000 Afghans. We’re representing a number of Afghan refugees in their claims to bring their families to the UK.

• We’re working with TRAFFIC and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust to reduce poaching and trafficking of endangered wildlife in Madagascar. The project is focused on the effective implementation of wildlife legislation, and enforcement of measures to combat wildlife crime and disrupt trafficking networks. It also acts to address the underlying corruption that allows international wildlife trafficking to flourish in Madagascar and the sub-Saharan region.

Refugee Legal is a community legal centre in Australia for refugee and immigration law, policy and procedure. With Pfizer Australia, we supported Refugee Legal’s special legal clinic on the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

“This is the first time that our legal team has participated in a legal clinic where we provide advice to individuals," said Rebecca Lacey, Senior Legal Director, Pfizer Australia & New Zealand. "Assisting with the Afghanistan clinic has been a humbling experience.” 

In the UK, we partnered with several commercial clients, including Mondelez and NatWest, to give urgent immigration advice to thousands of Ukrainians.

“Being able to liaise directly with people who are often in a very vulnerable situation has been a humbling but incredibly rewarding experience,” said Neil Campbell, Managing Legal Counsel, Outsourcing, Technology & IP, Natwest.

We partnered with Oracle to deliver a series of legal education training sessions to refugees in France.  

“It was a pleasure to help and inform these courageous and enthusiastic young people. We hope to participate again,” said Philippe Masset, Legal Director, Oracle France