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

vance center pardons

The problem with pardons

Providing access to executive clemency for women and other vulnerable groups

Story

2 min read

We will start an awareness campaign in which the recommendations and best practice guidelines that arose from this research are accessible to local grassroots organizations for both advocacy purposes and to better access clemency for their clients

Romina Canessa
Attorney for the Human Rights and Access to Justice Program at the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice

Executive clemency is a broad power to provide pardons or commute sentences for individuals in prison. However, the use of executive pardons globally was opaque—with little information on where, when and how often this power was used. For these reasons, in collaboration with White & Case, the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice's Women in Prison Project chose to focus on better understanding this power.

James Holden, partner in our London office, led the project, assisted by 67 White & Case lawyers and legal staff in 19 offices. The team researched and analyzed executive clemency in 29 countries. Their findings surprised them: Clemency is applied inconsistently, usually with little oversight.

"As a commercial lawyer, I went into this not really knowing what to expect. I was shocked to see how poorly handled executive clemency is and how it's not being used to help vulnerable people, particularly women," explains Holden.

Clemency primarily applies in two situations: when people have been unjustly imprisoned or when their case qualifies for a reduced sentence. Women are disproportionately likely to fall into one or both groups. This is because they are often imprisoned for minor or nonviolent crimes. In addition, women may have specific vulnerabilities that may apply for purposes of clemency, such as pregnancy, childbirth or dependent children. Our research showed that executive clemency fails to consider these issues or those of other vulnerable groups.

The White & Case team developed recommendations focused on the need for clear, accessible and enforceable policies and the importance of ensuring that clemency is available to women and other vulnerable groups. Romina Canessa, attorney for the Human Rights and Access to Justice Program at the Vance Center, outlines the next steps: "We will start an awareness campaign in which the recommendations and best practice guidelines that arose from this research are accessible to local grassroots organizations for both advocacy purposes and to better access clemency for their clients."


Photo by Kansas City Star © Getty Images
Inmates exercise on a track at a correctional facility.


 

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