Community

We have strengthened our support for local communities through a national strategy for pro bono advice and non-legal community volunteering. The firm provides 20 hours per year for each employee, to encourage participation. Our non-legal volunteering is focused on helping homeless people, disadvantaged school students, and the elderly. Across our network, our charity committees have embraced this new approach and are making a real difference to our local communities.

In Manchester, we are working with the charity Young Citizens to deliver a ‘Legal Experts in Schools’ programme to help students at Oasis Academy in Salford understand how the law relates to them. The students gain a better understanding of their role as ‘young citizens’ in society, whilst also benefiting from employability connections as they spend time with our lawyers.

In Bristol, our people are engaged in Helpforce volunteering alongside school students from Bristol Metropolitan Academy to provide fun and conversation to elderly patients at North Bristol NHS Trust. Elderly patients enjoy time spent chatting to the students, and the students gain valuable communication and interpersonal skills.

In London, we are volunteering at The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields, serving lunch once a week during cold weather months and helping at weekly Arts & Craft Workshops. These interventions enable The Connection to engage meaningfully with homeless people, in order to help them take the first small steps on the long road to recovery and restoration.

Further information on community investment activities in each of our locations can be found here.