Community Investment

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Our Community Investment initiative builds awareness within the firm and with our clients and other stakeholders about the local communities in which we operate and work. We support and develop projects that focus on issues of poverty and exclusion in our communities. The strength of the firm's community affairs work lies in the excellent relationships we have forged with partnering agencies and local community leaders. This helps to ensure that our community work is relevant, well executed, and sustainable across the firm's many local communities.

The London office, for instance, has developed its community affairs work through partnership with a local community charity in one of the most deprived boroughs in the country, just a mile from the London office. The firm funds the charity’s Business Link Coordinator, who identifies the needs of the local community and matches them with the skills of business people within the area to improve the quality of life for local residents.
 
ACCESSIBLE AND INCLUSIVE VOLUNTEERING FOR ALL THE FIRM

We have a wealth of business skills in the firm that we are able to use for the good of others through a wide variety of voluntary projects.

Educational Development

• As part of a Women's initiative, members of the New York office participate in reading training at Western Queens Early Childhood Center. Similar tutoring efforts for young children in local primary schools have been undertaken in London, Denver, and Washington, D.C. These initiatives help to raise the pupils' abilities in speaking, writing, reading, and listening, reducing the link between poverty and poor educational outcomes.
• Since 2004 the New York office has mentored and coached high school students from the Bronx, New York on mock trials and mooting competitions as part of the students' legal studies. A similar program, 'Debate it!' has also been established with local primary schools in London, which raises the confidence and skills of pupils in public speaking through debating sessions with volunteers.

Tackling Social Exclusion

• Our Hong Kong office has a long and established relationship with Crossroads, a local charity for the homeless, and holds a number of volunteering opportunities with them, not only for members of the firm but also for family members and summer interns.
   
  Tracy Williams, Legal Development Manager, Asia on her involvement with Crossroads:

"I first became involved with Crossroads through the Lovells family day. The charity takes Hong Kong's unwanted goods (mostly new and unused), saving them from a landfill and sending them to parts of the world where they were much needed.

There is an immediacy and tangibility about the Crossroads experience which is unique. We recently financed the transporting of two containers to ten orphanages in Kazakhstan. We loaded them in Hong Kong then flew to Shymkent to help the children at the orphanages unload them. The look on the faces of the kids when we helped them unload playground equipment, a trampoline, toys, and new clothes will stay with me for a long time."

• The London Human Resources team provides careers guidance and training on interview techniques and workplace etiquette to homeless people to equip them with the confidence and skills to re-enter the job market. Employment is recognized as a key route out of homelessness and initiatives such as these offer sustainable approaches to tackling homelessness in the community.
• For more than a decade, the Washington, D.C. office has collected used clothing and cash donations for Gifts for the Homeless, Inc. (GFTH), a not-for-profit founded in 1986 and run by members of the Washington, D.C. legal community. They are a recognized leader in donations to GFTH, which is the main source of clothing desperately needed by many in the area. Members of the Washington, D.C. office also have a close relationship with Calvary Women’s Services, located near to the office, for which we prepare and serve dinners and host computer training sessions. 

For more information on our Community Investment initiative, please contact:
Tom Bulleit, Washington, D.C.
Crispin Rapinet, London
Yasmin Waljee, London