Environmental
Willkie offers pro bono legal assistance to various organizations promoting or facilitating sustainable practices. Our legal work ranges from data privacy to asset management to intellectual property and more.
Willkie clients include the Apax Philanthropy Fund, a philanthropic private equity fund which donates to non-profit organizations to support activities that have a positive societal impact in France and abroad; Fashion Makes Change (a program of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors), which works to advance the sustainability of the global fashion industry’s supply chain, including developing key sustainability metrics and funding empowerment and education programs for women workers; the Jane Goodall Institute, a non-profit focused on protecting great ape habitats and expanding Jane Goodall’s legacy of conservation; and Renewable Energy Alliance Houston, an organization that facilitates Houston’s clean energy development by connecting, attracting and promoting clean energy leaders and innovators;
Willkie is a partner law firm in the Imperial College/Bloomberg Cleantech Accelerator Programme. Through this initiative in London, Willkie, alongside lawyers from Bloomberg and two other law firms, provide selected environmental startups with legal support. The aim of the program is to speed up the delivery of new ideas and technology that could have a positive impact on climate change and protection of the environment.
Affiliations, Alliances and Awards
Willkie and its partners also donate their time to other initiatives supporting environmental sustainability, including:
- Winning “Environment & Sustainability: Outstanding Firm” at Chambers USA Awards 2024 and Chambers USA Awards 2021.
- Shortlisted for “Environment and Sustainability: Outstanding Firm” at Chambers USA Awards 2023.
- Winning in the “Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership” category for the LawWorks 2023 UK Pro Bono Awards in recognition of Willkie’s partnership with Imperial College/Bloomberg Cleantech Accelerator Programme.
- Winning The National Law Journal 2022 ESG and Community Impact Award, which recognizes Willkie's leadership in the field of ESG through the firm's pro bono service, environmental stewardship, charitable giving and other means.
- Participating in the Law Firm Anti-Racism Alliance’s Environmental Justice Working Group, which focuses on removing racial barriers that impact environmental justice.
- Actively engaging in the Center for Applied Environmental Law and Policy, a non-profit focused on developing law and policies to protect communities and nature from environmental threats.
- Working with the Futures Industry Association Climate Risk Committee and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee to leverage the power of markets and private innovation to build a more environmentally sustainable global financial system and economy.
- Receiving the award for “Environment/Sustainability Program of the Year” at Chambers Diversity & Inclusion Awards: North America 2021.