2025 Global Forum

The Armenia Pro Bono Collaborative Project (The International and Comparative Law Centre, and law firms Orrick, Baker McKenzie, Simmons & Simmons, and Reed Smith)

The Armenia Pro Bono Collaborative Project is a joint initiative led by the International and Comparative Law Centre (ICLC) in partnership with the law firms Orrick, Baker McKenzie, Simmons & Simmons, and Reed Smith. Working with the Artsakh Union, an NGO representing the rights and dignity of forcibly displaced people from the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the project was launched in response to the urgent need for legal redress for ethnic Armenians displaced following renewed conflict in the region. Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor—Artsakh’s sole connection to Armenia—cut off essential supplies such as food, medicine, and gas, leading to the forced displacement of more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians and widespread human rights violations.

In November 2024, ICLC enlisted support from law firms to handle the high volume of legal claims. The firms collaborated and used pro bono to draft and submit applications to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), asserting violations of the rights to property, private and family life, and effective remedies under the European Convention on Human Rights. Despite political sensitivities and working across multiple time zones, the project mobilized 120 volunteers to complete 113 applications for 118 cases, assisting 173 clients. Over 1,600 pro bono hours were contributed, and the work was completed within three months, demonstrating the impact and efficiency of coordinated legal action in a time of crisis.

Baker McKenzie & Iberdrola Climate Justice Project (Baker McKenzie & Iberdrola)

The Baker McKenzie & Iberdrola Climate Justice Project, showcased at the World Congress Justice with Children 2025, addresses how climate change impacts juvenile justice systems worldwide. By analyzing responses from 25 jurisdictions, the project examines how children in detention and care facilities are affected by climate-related disasters and aims to develop protocols that protect their rights and safety during emergencies. Conducted as part of Iberdrola’s Pro Bono “Construyendo Juntos” collaboration with Baker McKenzie, the initiative produced a comprehensive report supported by the Global Initiative on Justice with Children, designed to encourage jurisdictions globally to strengthen protections for children in residential care during disasters.

The report emphasizes the urgent need for justice systems to adopt clear protocols and preparedness measures to protect children from the growing risks posed by climate events such as floods and heatwaves. It calls for stronger collaboration between governments and organizations to implement effective disaster mitigation strategies. By presenting their findings at the World Congress, Baker McKenzie and Iberdrola reaffirmed their shared commitment to safeguarding children’s rights and tackling the pressing global challenge of climate justice for children.

Landmark UN Human Rights Committee Rulings on Reproductive Rights (Debevoise & Plimpton and the Center for Reproductive Rights)

In May 2019, Debevoise, working with the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), filed petitions with the UN Human Rights Committee on behalf of four rape survivors against Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Ecuador. These cases highlighted systemic violations of sexual and reproductive rights, the lack of judicial recourse for survivors, and insufficient access to education and healthcare related to reproductive health. The litigation aimed to expose the severe consequences faced by girls in restrictive environments, including forced motherhood due to sexual violence and limited reproductive healthcare, emphasizing the obligation of states to protect girls’ rights to life, health, bodily autonomy, and freedom from gender-based discrimination.

In January and May 2025, the Committee issued landmark rulings in favor of the survivors, establishing new international law standards for reproductive rights. The 2025 Rulings constitute a historic precedent and set new international law standards for the global protection of reproductive rights and freedoms to ensure access to sexual education, safe abortion services, and other protections for sexual abuse survivors. The rulings require the countries to amend their laws to ensure access to abortion, prevent forced pregnancies, and provide comprehensive reparations, including financial compensation, education support, and psychological assistance, setting a historic precedent for global protections of reproductive rights and freedoms. Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala must also provide comprehensive reparations for the women, including financial compensation, support to resume their education, ensuring access to education for their children, psychological assistance, and other measures to help them rebuild their lives.

Multiplying forces to free prisoners of conscience (Dechert and Freedom Now)

Freedom Now is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human rights and the rule of law by working to eliminate the politically motivated harassment and imprisonment of those who peacefully advocate for and exercise their fundamental rights. Unlike other large organizations that address many kinds of human rights issues all over the world, Freedom Now represents individual prisoners of conscience and is typically retained by a member of the detainee’s family, which provides the organization with the credibility to speak on the individual’s behalf and an ethical duty to advocate vigorously for the detainee’s release. 

Since 2012, Dechert has partnered with Freedom Now to represent individual prisoners of conscience around the world as pro bono clients and conduct legal, political, and public relations advocacy campaigns to gain their release. Most recently, the United Nations declared that the detention of one of Dechert’s Freedom Now clients, Dzyanis Ivashyn, violates international law. In May 2025, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Belarus had violated international human rights law by detaining Ivashyn. The UN concluded that Ivashyn was wrongfully imprisoned on the grounds of discrimination based on political opinion and for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

Refugee Paralympic team’s journey to Paris 2024 (Hogan Lovells):

The Paralympic Refugee Team represents the 120 million people forcibly displaced by war and persecution worldwide. Hogan Lovells played a key role in enabling the team to compete in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, building on its long-standing relationship with Parasport and the Paralympic movement. Since partnering with the British Paralympic Association in 2005 and becoming a Gold Partner in 2012, the firm has consistently supported Paralympic initiatives, deepening its commitment to inclusivity and sport on the global stage.

The Refugee Paralympic Team faced complex legal challenges, including securing legal protections, navigating international law and visa issues, and managing the logistics of competing as displaced individuals. Led by Paris partner Christine Gateau, Hogan Lovells provided crucial pro bono legal support to overcome these barriers and ensure the athletes could compete under the IPC flag. This work not only made their participation possible but also amplified global awareness of refugee experiences and demonstrated the power of legal advocacy to drive inclusion. By enabling the athletes to achieve their Paralympic dreams, the initiative brought hope to millions of refugees worldwide and highlighted the transformative impact of pro bono legal support.

Advocacy for the rights of people without shelter (TozziniFreire)

TozziniFreire’s pro bono initiatives are designed to respond to urgent social issues, with a particular focus on housing insecurity—a problem that has grown more than tenfold in Brazil and Latin America over the past decade. In 2022, the firm partnered with the Red Pro Bono de las Américas to conduct a comparative study of legislation and public policies addressing homelessness across different countries, completed in 2024. Recognizing homelessness as a structural issue, TozziniFreire sought to go beyond isolated actions by forming partnerships with key organizations such as SP Invisível, Sefras, and Centro de Acolhida São Leopoldo, developing a comprehensive strategy that addresses various aspects of vulnerability among people experiencing homelessness.

Their approach stands out for its integrated and holistic nature. Rather than presenting fragmented interventions, TozziniFreire created different formats of pro bono legal assistance tailored to various subgroups within the homeless population—those in professional emancipation, people living in shelters (including cis and trans individuals), and those living on the streets. By combining individual and systemic advocacy, these initiatives aim to reduce vulnerabilities and promote access to rights while acknowledging the historical and structural roots of homelessness, such as colonial legacies and entrenched inequality. This multifaceted strategy reflects the firm’s professional maturity and commitment to addressing the issue at the scale and complexity it requires.

Building structural responses to Aporophobia (Fundación Fernando Pombo)

Aporophobia—discrimination against people living in poverty—has long been an overlooked issue with limited legal recognition. This changed in 2021 when Spain amended its Penal Code to include aporophobia as an aggravating circumstance in certain crimes, marking a historic step toward addressing poverty discrimination through legal means. However, legal reform alone was not enough. The challenge lay in creating a comprehensive, structural response that engaged NGOs, public institutions, academia, the private sector, and legal professionals. This approach aimed not only to strengthen legislation but also to drive cultural and practical shifts in how society and the legal system understand and address poverty.

Building on over a decade of collaboration, the Fernando Pombo Foundation led an innovative initiative to transform this legal milestone into real, long-term impact. The project went beyond theory, embedding legal practice within broader social action to ensure that legal tools effectively improved the lives of those affected by poverty discrimination. Multidisciplinary teams combined expertise across criminal, civil, and procedural law, and worked in partnership with organizations like Hogar Sí, scholars from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and Gómez-Acebo & Pombo’s pro bono lawyers. Together, they developed practical mechanisms to make aporophobia visible, actionable, and legally enforceable.

Do it Now Now: Funding Innovation (Prime Advocates and Freshfields)

Do It Now Now Enterprise CIC (DINN) is an open innovation organization dedicated to advancing the economic and social empowerment of Black communities through access to employment, entrepreneurship, and training opportunities. In 2024, DINN partnered with Prime Advocates (general counsel and strategic governance support) and Freshfields to advise on two innovative funds—the Make it Big Fund and the Big Business Round 1 Grant Fund—in collaboration with the Pathway Fund. With £935,000 in capital, these funds provide grants and innovative financing to early-stage Black and minority-led social enterprises tackling systemic inequality. The Make it Big Fund used a capped repayable finance model to build an “evergreen” structure, while the Big Business Round 1 blended catalytic capital with third-party debt finance to de-risk and accelerate growth for community-serving organizations. Through this approach, DINN has positioned itself as a pioneer in supporting underrepresented communities through catalytic capital and innovative finance.

Prime Advocates played a crucial role in enabling this initiative through its pro bono Social Finance Hot Desk (SFHD), collaborating with Freshfields and eight other law firms to deliver legal expertise on fund structure, governance, risk allocation, and grant agreements. By acting as an intermediary between social enterprises and a network of law firms, Prime provided DINN with high-quality, mission-aligned legal support efficiently and affordably, ensuring more capital reached grantees. This collaborative legal infrastructure allowed DINN to scale its activities to include multiple funding rounds and establish a sustainable advisory framework. The partnership between DINN, Prime Advocates, and its legal partners demonstrates how innovative, intermediated pro bono models can align legal, financial, and social impact sectors to build replicable, systemic solutions for underrepresented communities.

“Enfance Précarité Zéro” (No Precarious Children) Alliance des Avocats pour les Droits de l’Homme (Alliance of Lawyers for Human Rights)

Since 2017, the No Precarious Children program has been committed to supporting unaccompanied minors who face multiple obstacles in accessing their rights, from obtaining a residence permit to navigating complex asylum procedures. The Alliance des Avocats pour les Droits de l’Homme offers free legal assistance tailored to the needs of these young people, including legal casework, introductory legal workshops, and job-readiness sessions in partnership with private companies. Their support has no limits in terms of legal areas-they assist in regularization processes, labor law issues, social rights claims, and even criminal law matters, thanks to the engagement of their growing network of pro bono lawyers.

Since its launch, the project has supported 1,147 children in asylum claims, administrative procedures, and civil and family reunification cases. In 2024 alone, we provided legal support to 330 minors, not only through individual casework but also through “Know Your Rights” workshops. We also trained 213 lawyers and legal professionals and 128 social workers to better respond to the legal needs of unaccompanied minors.

Pro Bono for Refugees in Immigration Detention (Morrison Foerster and Justice Centre Hong Kong)

Morrison Foerster (MoFo) and Justice Centre Hong Kong launched a collaborative initiative to fill critical legal aid gaps for individuals at risk of or experiencing immigration detention in Hong Kong, while advancing legal empowerment within refugee communities. Since 2022, MoFo has contributed over 2,330 pro bono hours to this project. Together, they created Hong Kong’s first publicly accessible case law database focused on immigration detention, providing distilled legal insights for lawyers, NGOs, and researchers working with asylum seekers, refugees, and survivors of torture. They also co-developed a Detention Self-Help Toolkit with input from refugee community members, ensuring the resource is accessible and practical. Launched at a legal empowerment workshop in August 2024, the toolkit has since become a key resource for individuals navigating the detention system and for training legal professionals and caseworkers.

Beyond legal resources and capacity building, MoFo lawyers directly supported Justice Centre’s work through five detention visits to meet refugees, including individuals with serious health needs, and conducted country of origin research to strengthen asylum and detention claims. By adopting trauma-informed lawyering practices during these visits, MoFo enabled more effective disclosure and timely legal interventions. As the Justice Centre cannot conduct legal visits itself, MoFo’s involvement significantly expanded the organization’s reach and impact, ensuring that vulnerable individuals in detention receive critical legal support and advocacy. This initiative demonstrates how strategic pro bono partnerships can strengthen legal frameworks, build community capacity, and directly protect the rights of marginalized groups.