Unlocking impact capital: Pro bono legal experts develop a new roadmap for impact investing

Impact investing is a critical tool to help redirect business and market approaches toward tackling fundamental social and environmental inequities. Due to it being a fairly new concept in the regions however, it has not been easily accessible across Southeast Asia and South Africa.

To combat this issue TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service, connected ANDE, a network supporting entrepreneurship in developing economies, with a coalition of five top law firms, led by A&O Sherman, to develop a series of user-friendly guides on impact investing laws in both regions.

To celebrate this project’s nomination for a Collaboration Award as part of the 2025 TrustLaw Awards, we caught up with Sucharita Kamat, Asia Regional Director at ANDE and James Kingston, Senior Associate at A&O Shearman to delve deeper into the impact and vision that drives their work forward.

What challenge were you facing or what legal information were you lacking before conducting the project?

“We were seeking legal insights relevant to small and growing businesses in light of recent policy developments in the region. Unfortunately, the information simply didn’t exist in the shape or form needed by these businesses and the organizations supporting them. ”

_{– Sucharita Kamat}

Why were keen to work on this project?

“A&O Shearman was uniquely well placed to lead on this project because of our experience advising corporate and financial clients, and our broad footprint and long history in Southeast Asia.”

_{– James Kingston}

What did the pro bono lawyers give you to support?

“They provided us with invaluable legal expertise—interpretations we urgently needed but could not have accessed without their support. It was the kind of knowledge we wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. ”

_{– Sucharita Kamat}

How do you feel about the impact the work has had?

“There is as lack of clarity in legal and regulatory frameworks for impact investing across Southeast Asia. This creates uncertainty, complexity, and inefficiency for both investors and social enterprises, limiting the scale and effectiveness of impact investment in the region. This report bridges this gap, helping to connect impact investors from the U.S., Europe, and beyond with Southeast Asian social enterprises in need of funding. ”

_{– James Kingston}

Was there anything that stood out for you about the way the legal assistance was delivered by the law firm that helped make the project successful?

“The team was highly professional, and the quality of their work was recognised and appreciated across the ecosystem. They demonstrated that pro bono does not mean lower quality or lower priority. ”

_{– Sucharita Kamat}

Do you have any specific learnings from the case about how to deliver a successful pro bono project that would be useful to pass on to other lawyers?

“Law firms often focus on the legal research and project management aspects of producing a report such as this and leave the promotion or marketing of the report product to the client. One unique aspect of this matter was that each of the contributing law firms contributed to a ‘talking heads’ style video series to highlight the most interesting aspects of the report for their jurisdiction to help drive online engagement towards the report. ”

_{– James Kingston}