City Bar Justice Center Gala to Honor Global Pro Bono Work of Barclays PLC and Linklaters LLP

On April 13, the City Bar Justice Center’s 6th Annual Gala will honor Barclays PLC and Linklaters LLP for exemplary leadership in their global pro bono programs, community projects and public service activities. While the City Bar Justice Award traditionally recognizes leadership and dedication to pro bono and public service in New York City, this is the first time the Justice Center will bestow the honor on a firm and corporation for their efforts to improve the communities in which they do business worldwide. Worldwide, Barclays aims to improve the financial management, entrepreneurship and employment skills of disadvantaged people through company-wide programs such as Banking on Brighter Futures. Linklaters, in collaboration with CAMFED (the Campaign for Female Education), raises global awareness of the issue of governance, especially transparency and accountability, as key to the economic and social empowerment of  disenfranchised women. Both Barclays and Linklaters seek to increase resources and diversity in the pipeline to the legal profession. Barclays, for example, has worked to deliver ground-breaking pro bono training to Tanzania’s future lawyers, and Linklaters participates in programs to educate youth on legal issues and to support access to the legal profession. In New York City, Barclays and Linklaters partner on the provision of pro bono legal services for those who can’t afford a lawyer. Working with the Justice Center’s Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project, Barclays and Linklaters provide assistance at legal clinics to low-income micro-entrepreneurs throughout New York City on such matters as business structure, incorporation and contracts. Both also work with the Justice Center’s Veterans Assistance Project to help deserving veterans obtain essential service-connected disability benefits. Linklaters also contributes to the Justice Center’s efforts to provide pro bono counsel to immigrants detained in immigration jails, who otherwise would have no access to counsel to defend against permanent removal from this country. The annual gala is the signature fundraising event for the Justice Center’s programs.