Community & pro bono

In fact, it's crucial to our recruitment, retention and reputation. In line with our Principles and the skills we have to offer, we focus on three key themes: access to justice, access to finance and access to education.

Access to justice

During difficult times, it's more important than ever that we maintain our traditional commitment to working on free legal advice schemes and fill the gap where state provision falls short. Clifford Chance helps widen access to justice in three ways: through advising vulnerable people on their rights in both criminal cases and social welfare law, through supporting charities and NGOs who share our access to justice goals and through taking an active role in cases that have a national or international impact on the rule of law and human rights.

Access to finance

In recent times, improving access to finance has been a major preoccupation for business, government and society at large. At Clifford Chance, we've also been doing our bit by advising on deals and publishing regulatory insights that help improve market liquidity, by leveraging our banking experience on behalf of individuals and charities engaged in alleviating poverty and by providing pro bono legal advice to charities and NGOs in the growth field of microfinance and to individuals at the margins of mainstream financial services.

Access to education

Why does helping facilitate access to education matter to a law firm? Because everyone at Clifford Chance knows what a difference education makes. Our community programmes cover every stage of learning and development - from numeracy and literary schemes in local primary schools right through to assisting bright but socially disadvantaged students gain places at top universities. Children with special needs, young refugees and charities engaged in providing educational facilities in some of the world's poorest countries also benefit from our support.

To read about some of our work, please see our Corporate Responsibility Report.