2022 Global Citizenship Review

What's inside

Highlights from our Global Pro Bono Practice and Global Citizenship initiative

A message from our Chair

In a year of geopolitical turmoil, environmental disasters and threats to human rights, we leveraged the full spectrum of our capabilities to help address the challenges of our time.

The Firm and our people supported those affected by the war in Ukraine in multiple ways—giving financial support to charities working on the ground, organizing donation drives for emergency relief provisions, providing pro bono advice to refugees and even opening their homes to those escaping the conflict. Elsewhere, we helped refugees from Afghanistan evacuate and resettle in safer countries.

In the wake of natural disasters such as the catastrophic floods in Australia, our lawyers helped families rebuild their homes and lives. We also helped tackle long-term issues, through research on carbon rights and climate change.

In the United States, our lawyers fought for the human rights of prisoners and women: challenging the use of long-term solitary confinement and helping to develop a unique database tracking rapidly changing reproductive healthcare laws in all 50 US states.

A long-term pillar of our pro bono work has been educating and empowering the next generation of legal leaders around the world. We celebrated important milestones in two projects we support: the inaugural graduating class of Bhutan’s first and only law school and the fifth anniversary of the African Centre on Law & Ethics.

This review tells these stories and more about the ways our people donated their time, knowledge and expertise to make a positive impact on their communities and the world in 2022.


Hugh Verrier, Chair

Emergency response

We mobilized to help those escaping crises

Call to action

Responding to those affected by the war in Ukraine

Ukraine response
Brendan Hoffman © Bespoke Reps

In the wake of the storm

Rebuilding houses and lives following the Australia floods
 

Australia floods
Brendan McCarthy © AAP

Safe passage

Helping refugees fleeing from Afghanistan

gc afghan refugees
American Photo Archive © Alamy Stock Photo

ESG & pro bono

While two distinct areas, ESG and pro bono can overlap and even complement each other

Navigating the difference between ESG and pro bono

A conversation with Jacquelyn MacLennan, EU competition and trade law partner, Global Pro Bono Practice Leader (2015 – 2022) and Business & Human Rights Interest Group member
 

Navigating the difference between ESG and pro bono
© James Cannon Photography

Access to justice

Highlights include a historic civil rights settlement and work to end solitary confinement

Isolated for life

Protecting prisoners from the harms of long-term solitary confinement

Justice solitary
Michael M. Santiago © Getty Images

Journey to justice

Fighting to obtain just compensation for our client who was wrongfully convicted of murder

Justice Shawn Williams
Holly Pickett © The New York Times/Redux

Advancing human rights

Our work focused on the rights of women and children

A holistic approach

Improving access to justice for children

A holistic approach juvenile defense
Gustavo Oliveira © WBR Photo

The problem with pardons

Providing access to executive clemency for women and other vulnerable groups

Rights vance center pardons
Kansas City Star © Getty Images

Reproductive freedoms

Building on our long history of reproductive rights pro bono work

Rights roe v wade
Ian Waldie © Getty Images

Environmental action

We used our skills to help protect our environment and support climate action

Carbon rights

Identifying legal frameworks for developing countries to address climate change

Carbon rights
Michael Melford © Bespoke

Call of the wild

Free speech victory benefits endangered gray wolves

Call of the wild gray wolves
Stan Tekiela © Getty Images

A sustainable bond

Facilitating green and blue bonds in Africa

Environment ECON Africa Green bonds
Justin Jin © Bespoke

Educating future leaders

Two of our legal education programs come full circle in Bhutan and Ghana

First class

Marking a milestone for Bhutan’s first law school

Bhutan
© JSW Law

An ethical foundation

Supporting the African Centre on Law & Ethics as it trains law students and practitioners from across the continent

Africa legal ethics
David Malan © Getty Images

A truly global pro bono practice

Our work focuses on providing access to justice, serving organizations with a social or environmental mission and promoting the rule of law and good sovereign governance

Pro bono hours and participation

122,152pro bono hours in 2022


100k+ pro bono hours for the sixth consecutive year
100% of our offices and practices do pro bono work

160+ partners and counsel serve as pro bono leaders
900+ pro bono matters in 2022

 

Pro bono secondments

Deepening client relationships and boosting associates' skills

Pro bono secondments
© European Lawyers in Lesvos

Office highlights

Pro bono matters from each of our offices

Pro bono office highlights
Gabriel Mello © Getty Images

Learn more

For more information about our commitment and activities, please visit our Global Citizenship web pages.

 


Visuals by Roman De Giuli

africa legal ethics

An ethical foundation

Supporting the African Centre on Law & Ethics as it trains law students and practitioners from across the continent

Story

2 min read

In July 2022 the African Centre on Law & Ethics (ACLE) marked its fifth anniversary in Accra, Ghana. At the celebration the ACLE, which is now wholly independent and managed by our original local partner, the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), recognized White & Case with an award for the Firm's key role in funding, setting up and nurturing the Centre in its first years of activities.

 

ACLE award

The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) recognized White & Case with an award for the Firm’s key role in funding, setting up and nurturing the Centre in its first years of activities.

 

Leading the way

We have come full circle in five years—from the first partnership with Fordham and White & Case to full independence, managed and operated by GIMPA

Dr. Kwaku Agyeman-Budu
Dean of GIMPA Law School

Located on the GIMPA Law School campus, the ACLE facilitates four areas of programming: conferences and symposia, law school modules on legal ethics, executive education for practicing lawyers and judges, and the Legal Ethics Training Program for law students. The program benefits from the participation of Ghana's senior judiciary.

In 2019 White & Case was part of a team that took the Legal Ethics Training Program to Rwanda, teaching law students from 12 African countries and providing workshops for Rwandan lawyers and judges.

The curriculum covers a broad range of issues, including codes of ethics regulation and enforcement, the relationship between attorneys and judges, confidentiality and avoiding conflicts of interest. Using practical exercises in small group sessions, students learn how ethical rules are implemented in commercial law practice. Timely issues, such as business and human rights and differences in codes of ethics from students' countries, have informed the interactive program content. Dedicated sessions for high-level judiciary, experienced practitioners and academics allow them to share their different perspectives. This program has since become the first step in legal ethics education for many future lawyers from across Africa.

Coming full circle

The program's roots go back to 2016 when White & Case, Fordham Law School and GIMPA Law School together created and delivered a legal ethics training program in Accra, Ghana. The first of its kind, the program was well received by senior judiciary, the bar association and Ghanaian law school faculties. To help keep the focus on these issues, in 2017 White & Case again joined forces with Fordham Law School and GIMPA Law School to create the Ghana-based ACLE.

"As legal industry leaders, we have a duty to support the rule of law, support the highest ethical standards and ensure equivalent access to justice," says Dr. Kwaku Agyeman-Budu, Dean of GIMPA Law School. "The ACLE promotes and enables lawyers from across Africa to achieve these ambitions together. We have come full circle in five years—from the first partnership with Fordham and White & Case to full independence, managed and operated by GIMPA."


Photo by David Malan © Getty Images
Woman holding a beaded globe.


 

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