The seventh annual TrustLaw Awards ceremony was held on September 28 in London, celebrating groundbreaking pro bono work undertaken by legal teams on behalf of NGOs and social enterprises around the world.
The event opened with a keynote speech by journalist and former Editor-in-Chief of the Guardian Alan Rusbridger, now the Chair of the Reuters Institute of Journalism at the University of Oxford. This was followed by a welcome from the Foundation’s CEO Monique Villa, who announced that the total value of legal assistance facilitated through TrustLaw since July 2010 has now surpassed $109m.
TrustLaw has more active projects than ever before – 67 per month – and connects 800 law firms with over 3,400 NGOs and social enterprises in its network spread across 175 countries.
The winners of the 2017 TrustLaw Awards were:
The Impact Award went to White & Case LLP and Unchained at Last, who fought to pass legislation that bans child marriage in America.
The Innovation Award went to Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Micro Rainbow International, who opened the UK’s first safe house for LGBTI refugees.
The Collaboration Award went to Torys LLP, J. Sagar Associates and the anti-trafficking organisation Prajwala, who teamed up to fight online sexual exploitation in India.
The International Law Firm of the Year Award went to Hogan Lovells in recognition of their work on a record 48 pro bono projects undertaken through Trustlaw in the past year.
The Domestic Law Firm of the Year Award went to Vieira Almeida & Associados for playing an instrumental role in spreading the practice of pro bono in Portugal and across Portuguese- and French-speaking Africa.
The In-House Legal Team of the Year Award went to Merck/MSD, TrustLaw’s most active corporate legal department, who worked on pro bono projects across the world, from Colombia to Ireland to China.
The Lawyer of the Year Award was shared by Constanza Connolly from Estudio Beccar Varela in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Rebecca Marques from Shearman & Sterling LLP in London, UK.
For more information on the TrustLaw Awards, visit our website.
Click here to view photos from the Awards.
