Blogs, Responsible business
Pro Bono Week: doing PR for good
This week is UK Pro Bono Week, which highlights the fantastic voluntary contribution that law firms and legal professionals make by giving free legal help and support to those in need.
We’re proud to work with many clients who offer pro bono services to those who need it, but as an agency we’re also committed to using our own skills and expertise to support organisations and campaigns that make a difference – and that our team is passionate about.
Each year, we commit at least 100 days of agency time to supporting causes that matter – and are delighted to share a snapshot of some of the pro bono activity we’ve undertaken so far in 2024:
The end of 2023 and start of this year saw us working closely with the #Justice4Windrush campaign, which is fighting for justice for over 15,000 people of the Windrush generation wrongly classified as illegal immigrants.
Founded by actor and campaigner Colin McFarlane, #Justice4Windrush has backing from a host of famous faces – from Annie Lennox, who re-recorded ‘Why’ for the campaign, and AJ Tracey to Eddie Marsan and Hannah Waddingham.
Supporting the campaign, we joined forces with Cloud9Media, Coldr, DediKATed PR, Hart Media, See Saw PR, To Market and Wild 1 Media to raise awareness of #Justice4Windrush’s fight – securing widespread coverage across national, broadcast, regional, digital, music, and consumer titles, in tandem with a wave of social media activity.
As a result, our work for #Justice4Windrush was shortlisted for a PRWeek Award in the ‘Best Social Purpose Campaign’ category.
We’ve also been working with The Felix Project for its Restaurants Feed London campaign. Kicking off on World Hunger Day – 28th May – the campaign aims to fight a hunger crisis in the capital by encouraging London restaurants to add an optional £1 donation onto customers’ bills, which is used to distribute quality food to those who need it the most.
Our media relations support played a part in growing the campaign over six-fold, from seven restaurant sign-ups last year to 44 this year – helping deliver essential meals and food to those living in food insecurity.
Our longstanding relationship with Support SEND Kids has also continued into 2024. SSK provides parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) with access to free legal guidance on its platform to help them navigate the complex and often costly process to claim the additional in-school support that their children are legally entitled to. To highlight the invisible burden this process places on SEND families, we brokered a partnership between SSK and Sky News to produce research which revealed that 3 out of 4 SEND parents are forced to give up work or reduce their hours.
Alongside our Pro Bono work, our whole team is committed to supporting various charitable initiatives. We regularly support charities such as Shelter and Great Ormond Street Hospital, and our Volunteering Day policy means each team member can take a full day of leave to volunteer at a charitable organisation of their choice.
Several of the Farrer Kane & Co team are active charity supporters themselves: some have completed incredible fundraising efforts this year, including Account Manager Declan who raised over £1,000 at the Ealing Half Marathon for London Autism Group Charity, while others provide regular support and donations to charities that are close to their heart.
It’s a privilege to be working with and supporting so many important organisations, and we look forward to continuing this into 2025.
