Withers Worldwide

Pro bono/Community

The Firm has supported staff involvement in pro bono and community work for many years. We look for ways we can use our legal skills to help those who might not otherwise have access to them. We also think it is important to benefit the wider community through voluntary initiatives and charitable giving. Our pro bono and community work includes:

• The St Lukes volunteer reading project. 45 members of staff from the London office spend a lunch hour once a week or once a fortnight helping children with their reading at a local primary school. The school has a large number of students for whom English is a second or even third language. The scheme is administered at Withers by Natalie O’Shea.
• Members of a Charities group give free advice to existing or newly established organisations such as advising the Saint Thomas More Corporation, the Catholic Center at Yale University with respect to a ground lease.
• Many members of the London Family Group participate in the Citizens Advice Bureau at the Principal Registry, on a rotational basis during office hours.
• We hold many charity fundraising events, from the ‘Jeans for Genes’ Day to the Macmillan ‘Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning’.
• In jurisdictions where it is possible, we support ways to encourage tax-efficient giving to charity, for example through payroll deduction in the UK.

We are currently looking at encouraging staff participation in other pro bono initiatives, such as LawWorks in the UK. LawWorks supports, promotes and encourages a commitment to pro bono across the solicitors' profession.

We also recognise that many of our staff are involved in pro bono and community activities outside of work. We try to support this as much as we can, such as allowing staff time off or making the Firm's facilities available.

Paul Hewitt has overall responsibility for Pro bono/Community in the UK and James Carolan in the US.