A&L Goodbody ‘steps up’ to support local communities - Business In The Community

A&L Goodbody ‘steps up’ to support local communities

A&L Goodbody’s Belfast office is a leading corporate law firm in Northern Ireland, advising the domestic and international business community.

Background

Providing a comprehensive range of services to clients across various legal disciplines from banking and finance, commercial property to restructuring and insolvency, the firm has always had a strong tradition of supporting and working in partnership with the communities in which it operates.

What A&L Goodbody did

Recognising the need to engage actively within its local communities, A&L Goodbody actively implements its ‘Step Up’ programme which is a community-based initiative aimed at giving everyone in its Belfast base the opportunity to make a difference in the local area.

To achieve this aim, ‘Step Up’ focuses on three key areas: education, homelessness and pro bono support. ‘Step Up’ is led by a Corporate Responsibility partner and volunteering is an integral element of all community engagement at the firm. There are a number of policies in place within the law firm to ensure the implementation of the ‘Step Up’ programme. More recently, this year the firm introduced a new matched funding scheme to recognise the individual interests of their employees as the scheme matches funds raised by employees for their own charity of choice.

A&L Goodbody supports education through participation in Business in the Community’s (BITC) Time to Read programme and it actively helps to combat homelessness through charity sponsorship of the Welcome Organisation. It also gives pro bono support to voluntary and community organisations in need through BITC’s ProHelp programme.

The outcomes and impacts

  • 2,545 hours of Pro-bono provided
  • Awarded Corporate M&A Firm of the Year by Experian Copfin
  • 21 employees volunteered for Time to Read
  • £2,000 raised for the Welcome Organisation
  • 43% of employees involved in ‘Step up’ programme
  • To find out more, email scsmith@algoodbody.com