How we help communities

We’ve been helping communities all over the world for over 30 years.

Our staff play a huge part in our social impact work - and thanks to their involvement, we’re able to support more people in the community than ever before.

How our staff get involved

We encourage all our staff to get involved in social impact work.

Regardless of their role or seniority, staff have the chance to work with different teams within A&O or alongside the charitable organisations we partner with.

To help our staff decide which opportunity is right for them, we provide details about each community project upfront, including:

• the type of volunteer help needed
• what the project will do and who for
• how long we’d like staff to commit to the work

Staff can join interest groups on priority topics, such as:

• Human rights
• Forcible displacement
• Social finance and impact investment
• Free legal advice for individuals
• Education and employment work
• Social mobility
• Our Global Charity Partnership 

Many of these groups are global, but others are specific to an office or region. We use the groups to share knowledge and best practice so that we can provide our clients with the best service.

We’ve put legal pro bono work on an equal footing with our billable client work, so that staff members who are lawyers can more easily split their time across the full range of client work.

Every member of staff may take up to two days’ leave per year for volunteering.

What our staff say about social impact work

Read what our staff say about their social impact work.

• Niels de Waele is a Senior Associate in our Antwerp office. As the office's local pro bono coordinator, he has been worked on programmes which support vulnerable children, teenagers and adults. Niels has also been involved in partnerships which restores biodiversity and fights climate change.
• Peter Banks is a Partner in our London office. He led a cross-practice team which advised on the merger of three Welsh mental health charities – CAIS, Hafal and WCADA. The merger created one of the largest charities in Wales, with 800 staff and 20,000 service users.

If you’re a staff member interested in getting involved, you can contact probonoteam@allenovery.com

How we work with communities

Take a look at some of the social impact work we’re involved in right now.