Community Matters
A Commitment to Community
DLA Phillips Fox sees the law as more than a profession. We see it as a means to a decent, honourable New Zealand and a continuation of our way of life in this country. As part of this, we believe in public service through the law and giving our time and expertise to our communities.
DLA Phillips Fox operates a pro bono community programme representing organisations, individuals and charities – to a value of at least 3% of the firm’s annual revenue.
Every lawyer in our firm is asked to undertake at least 50 hours pro bono work a year. We encourage this participation by giving lawyers full fee-credit for this work on community clients.
The work we do free helps the most vulnerable members of New Zealand society on some of our most challenging social issues.
We are genuine about our commitment to community. Many of our pro bono clients have been with us for decades. For instance, one of our partners initiated the Starship Foundation and has served on its board ever since, while the firm has continued to do all of Starship’s legal work.
DLA Phillips Fox is unwavering in our commitment to achieve our goals only by conducting business in a way consistent with our values. Giving back to the community is one avenue for realising this aspiration.
DLA Piper’s International Pro Bono Work
Worldwide, DLA Piper donated more than 193,000 free hours of legal services to pro bono clients and corporate responsibility programmes. This was valued at US$108 million and most likely made the firm the number one provider of pro bono legal services in the world.
In 2005, DLA Piper established New Perimeter as a non-profit affiliate dedicated to delivering long-term high impact pro bono support to non-profit organisations primarily in developing and post-conflict countries. The focus of its work is legal education, women’s and children’s rights, access to justice and law reform, environmental protection, economic development and food security.
In every DLA Piper office around the world, DLA lawyers follow suit. Each office makes a serious commitment to giving back time and legal services to their local communities. Put simply, it is part of our philosophy.