Our people are asked to dedicate 25 hours per year to Responsible Business activities, which includes providing Pro Bono legal services or volunteering on programs that promote social and environmental change.
In 2024, our lawyers and Business Team professionals collectively delivered 259,000+ volunteering hours, with 175,000+ hours dedicated to Pro Bono legal work, resulting in life-changing outcomes for our clients and nonprofit partners. In addition, we made US$1million+ in charitable donations.
Pro Bono
6
The strength of our Pro Bono practice lies in our commitment to strategic litigation to bring about systematic change, which is complemented by ensuring we engage our commercial expertise to advise pioneering individuals and nonprofits. Through our HL Business and Sustainable Enterprise (HLBaSE) practice we act for innovators and entrepreneurs in the impact economy.
In 2024, we delivered 175,000+ Pro Bono hours to achieve lasting impact for others.
Access to justice and the rule of law
Defending democracy
In recognition of the fundamental importance of the right to vote and the ability to access the democratic process, in the UK, we worked on a number of matters in support of these aims:
- Created an Employers' Toolkit for the introduction of Voter ID and established a legal advice line developed by youth democracy charities to answer questions relating to initiatives for voter registration.
- Prepared a report with Demos on the impact of Generative AI on the Right to Free and Fair Elections. The report examines whether there are positive legal obligations on States that are party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to intervene to protect the integrity of their electoral systems from threats hypothesized to emerge from the misuse of generative AI.
- Worked with the Democracy Network through regular strategy sessions in advance of the General Election with advisors, including over 80 NGOs, and hosted a hackathon on democratic engagement.
A win for vulnerable homeowners
We secured a $12 million settlement in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of vulnerable homeowners who fell victim to a predatory lending scheme that left many mired in debt and facing foreclosure. The settlement benefits thousands of borrowers who accessed the Property Assessed Clean Energy program in L.A. County, which was aimed at allowing low-income residents to tap into home equity to fund water and energy efficiency upgrades. Los Angeles County and Renew Financial agreed to pay a total of $12 million to settle claims that lenders targeted homeowners who could not afford to pay off the projects, and program administrators put inadequate safeguards in place. The settlement came six years after we filed twin lawsuits (Nemore v. Renovate America and Ocana v. Renew Financial) alongside Public Counsel and Bet Tzedek. A win for vulnerable homeowners.
Climate action governance
We have an established partnership with Civic Exchange, an independent Hong Kong public-policy think tank. We undertook legal research on behalf of Civic Exchange to identify how different jurisdictions developed their legally binding climate commitments. Our research fed into an international coalition of NGOs, cross-sectoral practitioners, and legislators, which was established to identify the most effective governance structure that can reinforce Hong Kong's climate governance efforts.
History-making athletes
We advised the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in relation to the Refugee Paralympic Team participating in the 2024 Paris Games supporting the incredible resilience of refugee athletes.
This was the largest-ever Refugee Paralympic Team, comprising eight athletes and one guide runner, who competed in six sports at the Paris Games: Para athletics, Para powerlifting, Para table tennis, Para taekwondo, Para triathlon, and wheelchair fencing. Representing more than 120 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, these athletes competed under the IPC flag and were the first to enter the Opening Ceremony.
HL Business and Sustainable Enterprise (HL BaSE)
HL BaSE is our global impact economy practice, working with social enterprises and other impact organizations across our offices. We provide accessible legal support for business as a force for good.
HL BaSE works with some of the leading innovators and disruptors in the social economy space, supporting over 800 purpose-led organizations. Whether tackling biodiversity loss or racial inequality, our impact economy clients take an entrepreneurial approach to longstanding issues that offers real hope for the future. HL BaSE actively supports businesses aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In 2024, 862 lawyers provided 14,632 hours of advice to 303 social enterprises.
lawyers
hours of advice
social enterprises
Read the latest HL BaSE Impact Report.
Community Investment and Fundraising Partnerships
Our Community Investment program focuses on partnerships to support the issues that matter to our people and our local communities. Our people use their professional skills to offer support where there are gaps in knowledge, resources, and funding.
At a local level, each of our offices chooses a nonprofit organization in their community to support. Our people undertake fundraising activities, and as a firm, we match donations by our people to further the impact of our nonprofit partners. In addition, we partner with one global organization and are in the final year of a three-year partnership with WaterAid.
Advancing access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene
During our global partnership with WaterAid, we have provided pro bono legal support, skilled volunteering, advocacy, and fundraising to help WaterAid create systemic, lasting change and to support their mission of changing the world through clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene.
To date, 870+ colleagues have delivered 4,000+ hours to support WaterAid. Through our people's fundraising efforts and firm matching, we've donated $300,000+, which has supported a dedicated project in the Cuamba district of Mozambique, one of the most water scarce regions in the world, where more than a third of the population are reported to lack access to clean water.
Global Humanitarian Emergency Fund
In recognition of the 300 million+ people globally who need humanitarian assistance and protection*, we launched the Hogan Lovells Global Humanitarian Emergency Fund. A key challenge for organizations delivering emergency aid is the need for immediate funds to mobilize quickly. By committing to annual planned donations, we enable those operating in disaster-stricken areas to focus on providing their help and expertise during times of crisis.
We work with leading organizations with the capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies globally and which are guided by principles of impartiality. Our current partners are Médecins Sans Frontières/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF), International Rescue Committee (IRC), CARE International (CARE) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
*Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
United in debate
Debate It! is our flagship Community Investment program. From its inception in London over 20 years ago, it continues to make a significant impact across Europe.
The program builds young people's essential skills and teaches them how to present themselves, articulate their thoughts, work in teams, research topical issues, and develop arguments on contemporary issues. Recent debates have included motions on voting ages, prisoner rights, environmental issues, and animal rights.
In our London office, volunteers from departments across the firm and our clients lead fortnightly sessions with local primary and secondary schools that have a higher-than-average population of students from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds. Milan hosted its second edition and Berlin also rolled out a partnership with JP Morgan Chase. In Dusseldorf, the 10th anniversary final was celebrated in our new office. We are next expanding the program to Madrid and Rome.
The spirit to serve
HandsOn Hong Kong mobilizes local people to support under-resourced local charities and the vulnerable groups they serve. Each month they provide over 200 volunteer opportunities across 100+ grassroots organizations. We are a long-standing partner of their community service week, providing both volunteer assistance and financial support. We have also recently embarked on a new Matched Funding Charity Partnership with HandsOn Tokyo.
The power of poetry
Free Minds, based in Washington, D.C., supports incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths and adults by providing books, creative writing, and peer support programs. Through creative expression, job readiness training, and violence prevention outreach, Free Minds poets become powerful voices for change.
We facilitated two virtual events for our Americas region with Free Minds to provide encouraging poetry feedback to incarcerated youth across the United States. Free Minds ambassadors, who were previously incarcerated, shared with us how creative writing helped them feel a sense of hope in an otherwise negative environment. After the informative discussion, we read poetry from current participants. Writing positive, personal notes in response to the poetry helped us connect with incarcerated writers and show how their words make an emotional impact.
We partner with Free Minds as part of our commitment to advancing racial justice. 130+ colleagues across the region spent over 238 hours volunteering with Free Minds.
Impact measurement
As part of our effort to deepen our understanding of the impact of our Pro Bono and Community Investment work, we expanded on our existing theory of change by implementing a set of social impact surveys targeted at Hogan Lovells project leaders and volunteers and our non-profit partners. We have now scaled our impact measurement approach to 20+ regional initiatives, with plans to integrate this system across additional global flagship initiatives and other internal processes.
This approach enables us to look beyond the outputs of hours contributed and supports our broader theory of change by surfacing insights that help project leaders improve their work, measure outcomes, and share successes. We are developing dashboards that capture qualitative and quantitative data and track progress. With this information, we are better equipped to evaluate our programs, scale what works, and strengthen our role in advancing impact across sectors.
of volunteers strongly agreed
that the initiative had a positive impact on their personal wellbeing.
of our nonprofit partners said
they would participate in a similar Hogan Lovells initiative again.
