Our community: Access to justice

Why is community affairs important for Clifford Chance? We want every Clifford Chance office to engage with its local community, using its talents and resources to help others. This is crucial to our recruitment, retention and reputation. In line with our Principles and the skills we have to offer, we continue to focus on three themes across the firm: access to justice, finance and education.

Access to justice

We’re widening access to justice in three ways: advising vulnerable people on their rights in both criminal cases and social welfare law; supporting charities and NGOs who share our access to justice goals; and supporting cases that have a national or international impact on the rule of law and human rights.

We did more pro bono work in 2008/09 (see Overview). There were two main reasons: an improved firm-wide framework for co-ordinating this activity, and greater demand for pro bono advice, particularly social welfare law, because of the economic crisis. During these difficult times it’s important to maintain our traditional commitment to working on free legal advice schemes and filling the gap where state provision falls short.

We are taking the important step of globally recognising pro bono work in appraisals (see our people targets ). However, those taking part in our schemes are not motivated by reward or recognition alone, but rather by the perspectives they gain on the world outside business law and the opportunity to make a social impact: "By giving a few hours a week or month, I’ve helped three people save their homes from repossession and one person secure damages for an unfair dismissal claim," says one associate.

National Autistic Society (NAS)

For the past nine years, Clifford Chance London has worked with the NAS’s highly successful Advocacy for Education Service to provide free representation for parents of autistic children challenging decisions by local authorities in England and Wales about their children’s educational needs and provision. Our lawyers work closely with parents and NAS volunteers in preparing the appeals and representing parents in the first–tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

In 2009 we completed our 100th case for the NAS. Since the programme began, 96 of the 107 completed cases have been upheld in whole or in part or achieved a favourable settlement – so in almost 90% of cases the parents achieved all or most of what they were asking for. More than 200 lawyers and trainees have been involved, giving over 9,000 hours of their time.

In one case, Senior Associate Marie Berard won a unique dual-placement ruling – earning a seven-year-old boy the right to attend an independent school for autistic children two days a week and a state primary, with one-to-one support, three days a week.

A parent who benefited from the scheme said: "[The Clifford Chance lawyer] was a delight to deal with and we were humbled by his generosity and care... His summing up is still reducing us to tears... he is a hero in our household."

NAS Chief Executive Mark Lever says: "The NAS is extremely grateful to Clifford Chance for their support. They have made an enormous difference to the lives of the hundred families they have helped through what can be an incredibly stressful and intimidating process."