How it works

TrustLaw Connect works on a membership basis both for NGOs and social enterprises as well as lawyers, all of whom are carefully vetted before being admitted into the community.

The TrustLaw Connect service is organised through a specially designed, user friendly electronic platform that handles requests from hundreds of organisations around the world. Only staff from vetted member organisations and law firms have access to this site.

Membership is entirely free of charge and the Thomson Reuters Foundation does not request or accept payments of any kind as part of the service.

It's as easy as this:

NGOs and social enterprises send their request through the site, which we help them refine before it is shared with the lawyers.

Law firms indicate their interest in supporting any given organisation and our NGOs and social enterprises choose a firm among the offers received to work with.

Using TrustLaw Connect

What kind of projects

How to post a request

How to respond to a request

Step-by-step description of how the TrustLaw Connect service works

If you are an NGO or social enterprise, just log in to our site whenever you need legal assistance and complete a quick form. One of our case handlers will give you a call to discuss your request and finalise the wording with you, making sure that the information answers all the questions our legal partners may ask before offering pro bono assistance. Anyone working for a TrustLaw Connect member organisation can obtain a login for the site.
Your request is then posted on the site, with a deadline by which lawyers can express their interest.
If you work in a law firm or in-house legal team and have a login for TrustLaw Connect, you will receive a weekly email summarising the current requests. If you are interested in any of the projects, you can let us know through the platform, indicating your expertise and resources available
Once the deadline has passed, we share the lawyers' responses with the beneficiary. It is then up to the NGO or social enterprise to choose which lawyers they would like to work with.
Once the beneficiary has made its decision, the chosen legal team establishes a formal agreement with them. Neither the TrustLaw Connect nor the Foundation will be a third party to this engagement.
We at the Foundation will request your feedback regularly to make sure that you are happy with the service that we have provided and that the relationship with the lawyers or beneficiary is developing as you had hoped.

In addition

Besides offering their services, lawyers may also request assistance with a pro bono project, e.g. if they would like to collaborate with legal professionals from other firms or countries.

Requests from NGOs or social enterprises can be made visible to all members, allowing other organisations to share their experiences on a particular issue.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation continually seeks to evaluate and improve the TrustLaw Connect service in order to better understand and meet your needs. This evaluation takes the form of brief, confidential beneficiary and lawyer surveys seeking qualitative and quantitative feedback on the projects you have been involved in.

Such surveys will, of course, respect attorney-client privilege and any obligations of confidentiality on the part of either party. The results will not be publicly available although TrustLaw Connect may use them to revise membership. TrustLaw Connect may also use positive feedback to give public recognition to the best pro bono lawyers.