Who we support
Our social impact projects are for charities, social enterprises and impact-led organisations. We also support certain individuals through established programmes with our partner organisations.
We provide:
Please take a moment to read our privacy policy.
Our pro bono work
We offer pro bono legal advice to both local and international non-profit organisations and social enterprises.
This includes:
- representing international NGO clients in legal challenges
- using our expertise to conduct legal research with clients’ policy and advocacy teams
- responding to pressing areas of need
We also help people who face barriers in accessing justice through free legal advice projects. These are delivered in partnership with local organisations.
If you’re part of a charitable organisation or social enterprise and looking for free legal advice, send an email to our pro bono team. We are unfortunately unable to respond to all queries received directly from individuals.
Sign up for work experience
We offer virtual and in-person work experience programmes for young people who are interested in finding out about a career in law and business.
Virtual work experience
We offer two free, virtual legal work experience programmes covering Employment Law and M&A and Technology Law. Both programmes are self-paced, designed by our lawyers and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. They provide you with a variety of real life tasks to help you understand the day-to-day work of a commercial lawyer.
Smart Start work experience
Smart Start is our award-winning skills development programme for Year 12, or equivalent students. All participants must meet our eligibility criteria.
The programme has been developed in partnership with charity Causeway Education.
There are two ways students can take part:
- Smart Start Week – An in-person programme at our London office.
- Smart Applications – A virtual programme made up of 8 live webinars.
Students who take part in Smart Start Week will be invited to apply for Smarter Futures. This is a two-year support programme which consists of opportunities throughout Year 13 and into university (for those students choosing this route). More details are in the table below.
To join Smart Start Week or Smart Applications, students must attend one of our Smart Choices information sessions.
Applications for Smart Start 2024 are now closed.
If you have any queries, please email smartstart@causeway.education
Further information about Smart Start
|
Smart Start Week |
Smart Applications |
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|---|---|---|
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Where is it? |
Allen & Overy London |
Online (opportunity to attend an insight day at Allen & Overy’s London office in August.) |
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When is it? |
Monday 15 to Friday 19 July 2024 |
8 evening webinars in June 2024 |
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What will I get from the programme? |
|
|
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What additional support will I receive? |
|
|
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Additional work experience with Social Mobility Business Partnership (SMBP) |
Taking place 29 July - 2 August 2024, Smart Start students can apply to the SMBP Work Insight & Skills Experience and, if successful, will visit four different organisations and spend a fifth day with a professional sports club*. *Places are limited and the application form will be shared at Smart Choices sessions. Applicants must be accepted onto Smart Start to qualify for a place. During the week students will:
The SMBP Career Mentoring platform will also support students on their journey towards a career. |
N/A |
|
What is involved in Smarter Futures? |
* Smarter Futures participants must meet upReach's eligibility criteria |
N/A |
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What is the A&O Bursary? |
Students can apply for a £15,000 bursary if they have completed Smart Start Week and are taking part in Smarter Futures Mentoring* *Applicants must be accepted on upReach to qualify for the bursary |
N/A |
Eligibility
We have two sets of criteria for our Smart Start programme. Applicants must:
- be in Year 12 and have always attended a state-funded or non-fee paying school; and
- be a UK national or EU national with settled status in the UK by the time they apply for university
Applicants must also meet at least one of the following additional criteria. Students who meet more than one additional criteria are more likely to receive a place on either programme.
- come from a household where no parent or guardian has attended university
- receive, or have previously received free school meals, Pupil Premium, Education Maintenance Allowance or a 16 to 19 Bursary Fund
- be or have been in local authority care
- be or have been a full-time or part-time young carer
- come to the UK as a refugee or asylum seeker
- come from a household where a parent or carer has served in the regular armed forces” before the point about school or college
- be attending a school or college with:
- below average A-Level or Scottish Highers points score, and/or
- a low rate of progression to higher education
Get support to return to work
We run a yearly employability programme called ReStart for people who are 50 and over who have been unemployed for six months to one year.
Our ReStart programme is a series of workshops which take place online and at our office in London. The programme runs for 11 to 13 weeks.
Participants in the programme will:
- be mentored by A&O volunteers
- receive independent advice and guidance
- get one-to-one coaching from accredited coaches from the Executive Coaching Consultancy
- get help to rebuild their confidence
- build a positive outlook
- learn from shared experiences with other participants
We cannot guarantee that participants will find work either at A&O or elsewhere following the programme.
Learn more about the impact of our ReStart programme and how we're supporting people over 50 into employment.
Eligibility
People from any background or profession can apply.
They must be 50 years of age or older and have been out of work for at least six months.
Applications for ReStart 2024 are now closed. ReStart is an annual programme so information about the next programme will be shared here in December 2024.
What we fund
The A&O Foundation funds the work of charities, social enterprises and community interest companies covering:
- access to justice
- education
- employment
Although we support disaster relief efforts, there is no open application process for disaster relief grants.
We do not give funding directly to individuals.
Our grants to charities
Charities can apply for one of three grants.
|
Access to justice grant |
Education and employment grant |
Global Grants Programme |
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|---|---|---|---|
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Where projects should be based |
England, Scotland and Wales |
London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Hackney
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An area of considerable need, for example a country described as ‘developing’ in UNDP’s Multidimensional Poverty Index |
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Eligibility |
Your work or projects must promote access to justice in the UK |
Your work or projects must focus on issues of education, employment and training |
We accept applications from charities, social enterprises and community interest companies with projects focussed on:
|
|
Value |
£5,000 - £10,000 |
Up to £50,000 per year (for up to 3 years) + 100 volunteering hours from Allen & Overy staff Organisations may ring-fence 20% of the grant for core funding |
|
|
Closing date |
18 September 2024 |
Applications for the Global Grants Programme are currently closed |
|
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When will the grant be awarded? |
Autumn 2024 |
Summer 2024 |
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Applying for the Access to justice grant or Education and employment grants
If you would like to apply for an Access to justice or Education and employment grant please request an application form.
Applying for the Global Grants Programme
We are not accepting applications for the Global Grants Programme. If you would like to join our mailing list to hear when the process opens please contact the team.
When to apply for more funding
Charities can apply for more funding by following the same application process as before, but the timing of the new application depends on the duration of the funding already received.
Charities that have received one year of funding can apply for the programme immediately after their funding period ends.
Charities that have received a two consecutive years of funding must wait a year after the last grant period before applying again.
Global Charity Partnership
Our current global charity partner is Women for Women International. The partnership launched on 1 September and will run until 31 July 2025. Our last charity partner was Street Child.
The global charity partnership brings the firm together to support one charity with fundraising, free legal advice (pro bono) and in-kind support. We aim to raise in excess of GBP1 million through the partnership.
A portion of the money we raise will be invested in Women for Women International’s work in Iraq, where the charity will train 250 women on social and economic empowerment issues. Women for Women International will also increase women’s participation in their communities by supporting them to become community advocates.
In addition, the partnership will support Women for Women International’s Conflict Respond Fund, a funding pool designed to allow urgent responses to support women in critical conflict situations, such as in Ukraine and Sudan.
As well as financial support, we are giving Women for Women International free legal advice and other professional support to benefit the organisation as a whole.
If your organisation is interested in future global charity partnerships, send us an email to join our mailing list.
