Second Annual TrustLaw Awards – Winners

Thomson Reuters Foundation has announced the winners of the second annual TrustLaw Awards, recognising the best pro bono projects undertaken jointly by lawyers with NGOs or social entrepreneurs.

Awards for three distinct categories—impact, innovation and collaboration—were given to outstanding teams of NGOs, social enterprises, and lawyers working together. In addition, three firms were honoured as pro bono leaders for consistently devoting their time and energy to TrustLaw beneficiaries.

The winners were presented with prizes at a ceremony held at ChristChurch Spitalfields in London. The winning teams included:

• Impact: Latham & Watkins and RBS working with Equality Now to reform local legislation on sex trafficking of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East/North Africa.
• Innovation: White & Case working with Nexii (South Africa) on the world’s first stock exchange for social enterprises to diversify sources of funding.
• Collaboration: mHealth Alliance working with Baker & McKenzie, Merck, Doulah & Doulah (Bangladesh), MMAKS (Uganda) and Rex Attorneys (Tanzania) on global standards for the use of mobile technologies to improve health.
• Pro Bono Leaders: White & Case, Unisys, and Luthra & Luthra (India) for being the most active TrustLaw members in their respective categories (international law firm, corporate legal team and domestic law firm).

“In 2012, we saw an increased demand for lawyers to work on strategic global projects addressing pressing development issues around the world,” said Monique Villa, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO. “The TrustLaw Awards is a clear reflection of this evolution in pro bono support. None of these achievements would have been possible without our lawyers, who have given a lot of time and expertise to help us spread the pro bono culture worldwide.”

“Indeed, the time lawyers gave to our social enterprises and NGO members this year was the equivalent of $25 million, more than double what they gave the previous year,” Villa added.

TrustLaw is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono marketplace and news and information service on good governance and women’s rights. TrustLaw Connect is a free service which connects lawyers in over 140 countries with high-impact organisations that require pro bono legal assistance. TrustLaw is a rapidly growing community of nearly 1,000 members, including 260 law firms and in-house legal teams and over 700 NGOs and social enterprises. Learn more about TrustLaw on Facebook and Twitter.

About Thomson Reuters Foundation
Established in 1982, Thomson Reuters Foundation is a registered charity in Britain and the United States. The charitable arm of the world’s leading provider of news and information is committed to empowering people in need around the world with trusted information and free legal assistance. The Foundation leverages the skills, values and expertise across Thomson Reuters to promote the rule of law, save lives in disasters and improve standards of journalism. Our initiatives stand for better governance, greater transparency, more effective humanitarian relief and a robust global press. Visit the Foundation at http://www.trust.org.

About the mHealth Alliance
The mHealth Alliance champions the use of mobile technologies to improve health throughout the world. Working with diverse partners to integrate mHealth into multiple sectors, the Alliance serves as a convener for the mHealth community to overcome common challenges by sharing tools, knowledge, experience, and lessons learned. The mHealth Alliance advocates for more and better quality research and evaluation to advance the evidence base;  seeks to build capacity among health and industry decision-makers, managers, and practitioners; promotes sustainable business models; and supports systems integration by advocating for standardization and interoperability of mHealth platforms.  The mHealth Alliance also hosts HealthUnbound.org (HUB), a global online community for resource sharing and collaborative solution generation. Hosted by the United Nations Foundation, and founded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Vodafone Foundation, and UN Foundation, the Alliance now also includes PEPFAR, HP, the GSM Association, and NORAD among its founding partners. For more information, visit http://www.mhealthalliance.org.