Clifford Chance

We work with nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) who share our vision of advancing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our well-established NGO relationships deliver longstanding, effectively structured volunteering programmes. We enable opportunities for our clients to partner on these programmes with us in advancing the SDGs.

Over the year ended 30 April 2024, we undertook 73 collaborations alongside 27 different clients, delivering meaningful change where it is needed most. Three initiatives from Spain, Germany and Hong Kong exemplify these collaborations in action.

Spain

We formed a pro bono partnership with client Iberdrola, the Spanish leader renewable energy company and, as part of that arrangement, have collaborated with them on several pro bono projects in the country. After working together on a real estate pro bono matter for Save the Children, we delivered training programmes to the NGO, to help them improve their legal skills in various aspects such as tax, compliance, and data protection. We also held sessions with other NGOs and their beneficiaries, many of whom were women at risk, in which we addressed their legal questions on issues such as labour law and criminal law and informed them about their rights and obligations under Spanish law.

Germany

We have collaborated with client BNP Paribas on the creation of comprehensive legal and tax guidance notes, in the form of a legal framework, for the Lifescape Project (see opposite), an NGO we have been working with from its inception. The legal framework guides landowners and organisations in their ecological restoration projects and covers issues from liability to tax consequences. Working with BNP Paribas has helped the NGO and its beneficiaries and enables our people to forge relationships beyond the legal sector. The initiative has also led to significant professional development opportunities as we have had to navigate new legal areas and develop innovative solutions to complex environmental challenges. It has also enhanced relations with our client, which is keen to pursue more pro bono opportunities with us.

Hong Kong

We regularly partner with our global strategic clients on pro bono matters and community outreach projects. We have been running a series of pro bono workshops with Bank of America and BNY over the past two years. Pro bono workshops provide an opportunity for Clifford Chance lawyers to partner with client lawyers to offer legal-related advice to representatives from local NGOs. In this instance, Bank of America and BNY in-house counsel formed teams with Clifford Chance lawyers, and each team researched a law-related issue for an NGO, and then presented their findings at a workshop hosted by Clifford Chance.

Clifford Chance lawyers, client lawyers and NGO representatives found these sessions to be very worthwhile and informative.