Dentons has won two awards, together with five other firms, for its involvement in the Greece Pro Bono Collaborative.

Dentons was the world’s 5th-largest law firm by revenue, with $2.9B gross revenue in fiscal year 2019. The firm is called Dentons in all languages other than Chinese, in which it is called 大成.

The Collaborative received awards for ‘Innovation in Social Responsibility’ at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards Europe, and for ‘CSR Innovation’ at the Legal Innovation Awards.

In addition to Dentons, the other members of the Collaborative include Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; White & Case; Ashurst; Allen & Overy and Charles Russell Speechlys.

There are more than 100,000 asylum seekers in Greece, most of them living in terrible conditions. Based on the island of Lesvos, the Collaborative aims to assist with the migration crisis by increasing migrants’ access to legal services, monitoring issues of process and rule of law, and building legal capacity in Greece.

Volunteers travel to Lesvos to help asylum seekers with first instance interviews and family reunification with support from ELIL, which has provided free legal assistance on Lesvos through its team of full-time Greek asylum lawyers and volunteers since July 2016.

Haya Moubaydeen, associate in Dentons’ Amman office who travelled to Lesvos, said, “I was moved to act when I saw families, who have already gone through so much, being forced to live in overcrowded and difficult conditions. It was heart-wrenching to witness their plight but very rewarding to be able to help, even if in a small way.”

ELIL is a joint initiative of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe and the German Bar Association.

Dentons has provided pro bono support to ELIL since its inception and advised ELIL on its legal structure and implementation in nine European jurisdictions, which culminated in ELIL’s incorporation in Germany as a charitable limited liability company.