Routledge Modise nominated for award

Local law firm, Routledge Modise, has been nominated by the Thomson Reuters Foundation as the only South African firm in the domestic law firm category of the TrustLaw Awards. These awards recognise the best pro bono projects undertaken jointly by lawyers with NGOs or social entrepreneurs.

Additional nominees include Cambodian and Indian law firms, P&A Asia and Luthra and Luthra. These awards recognise work undertaken in supporting pro bono clients over the last year on projects in three different categories, namely domestic law firm, international law firm, and in-house legal team.

Invaluable partnerships

"There is a worldwide demand for pro bono assistance from international not for profit companies to achieve their visions and goals; partnerships between law firms and organisations like TrustLaw are therefore invaluable," Candice Pillay, director at Routledge Modise, commented. "Our focus recently has included offering commercial advice relating to corporate restructuring for the International Islamic Relief with regard to their offices in South Africa in line with the new Company's Act, providing tax advice to the Soul Foundation in respect of their financials as well as research for a Brazilian non-profit organisation on land rights in South Africa."

The team at Routledge Modise has spent approximately 100 pro bono hours on TrustLaw alone, in addition to further ongoing pro bono efforts. "The importance of pro bono work is entrenched in the culture of the firm and all pro bono clients are treated as if they are fee paying clients and are given equal priority. Over the years we have improved the number of hours we allocate towards pro bono - last year we did 4,000 pro bono hours but this year the number is likely to increase," Pillay said.