Thriving communities are the foundation of a sustainable future. Our mission is to use our skills, business practices, networks, leadership and influence to help reduce inequalities, with a strategic focus on social mobility, employee fundraising and volunteering, and pro bono work.
We’re committed to investing in initiatives that empower people, promote equity and improve access to justice. Between 2022 and 2024, we donated €540,000 to our community partners in support of this mission.
Highlights 2022 - 2024
Social mobility
- set and achieved annual social mobility targets in graduate recruitment
- launched post-primary partnership with P-TECH
- provided 800+ student experiences through our outreach programmes
- welcomed 15 young people on immersive work placements of 3+ weeks
- saw 180 colleagues provide mentoring, work shadowing and career advice across our social mobility programmes
Fundraising and volunteering
- A&L Goodbody Northern Ireland LLP launched two-year partnership with Simon Community NI
- €158,000 fundraised across Dublin and Belfast offices for charitable organisations
- €12,873 donated to employees' charities of choice through our matched funding scheme (examples of organisations listed below)
- 80 of our people volunteer to steward the Calcutta Run each year
Pro Bono
- supported 126 separated minor refugees to reunite with their families, as well as 850+ recently arrived refugee protection applicants and 35 Afghan families who needed 140 humanitarian visas
- created InReach, a network of 25 in-house legal teams that collaborate with us on pro bono projects and together successfully rolled out a legal skills training programme in Mountjoy and Dóchas
- designed and delivered in-house training for ALG lawyers working on international protection, family reunification, social housing and homelessness (in partnerships with independent law centres)
STRATEGIC FOCUS AREA
Social mobility
Where you start shouldn’t limit how far you can go and there’s no doubt socio-economic diversity drives business success and builds a fairer society.
We seek to enable opportunities for everyone, wherever their starting point, and we’re committed to long-term investment. Partnering with our communities is essential to creating pathways to education and employment.
Organised across post-primary, third-level and employment programmes, our social mobility strategy aims to foster opportunities for people regardless of their backgrounds. These programmes are structured so we can support people, track participation over time and foster lasting connections.
Improving Access Programme of the Year
London Benchmarking Social Impact EMEA Awards 2024
“A&L Goodbody’s commitment to the empowerment of students from diverse backgrounds, particularly from the most underrepresented communities in Dublin, has been nothing short of transformational.”
Yvonne Conaty
Former P-TECH programme manager at IBM
Post-primary school outreach
A key way we seek to support and advance social mobility is by offering mentoring and meaningful work placement experiences to young people from our local communities. We focus on second-level schools rather than primary, as we aim to have the greatest long-term impact on students’ career readiness and aspirations.
These programmes are designed to create meaningful and equitable pathways to education and employment for students in underrepresented communities across Dublin and Belfast.
Our flagship partnership with P-TECH
P-TECH helps students to develop skills and competencies to enable them enter the workforce or go on to further education. Since 2023, ALG has partnered with P-TECH with our employees facilitating skills-based workshops, mentoring and work placements to young people aged 14 to 18 in local DEIS* schools in Dublin’s North East Inner City.
* Delivering Equality of opportunity In Schools (DEIS). These are schools identified by the Department of Education as having a high number of students facing socioeconomic disadvantage.
Other initiatives and outreach
We also run bespoke work placement and mentoring programmes and initiatives. These include Step In Experience and Legal Fridays in Dublin, and Speakers for Schools in Belfast, where we work with 60 young people a year.
These programmes invite young people to experience a professional legal environment at our firm, access opportunities to work shadow and gain insight into legal and business services careers.
We also support jumpAgrade, which gives online tutoring to students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and Junior Achievement Ireland, which works to keep young people in education. For more information, visit: Education | Our Community Programmes | A&L Goodbody | A&L Goodbody LLP
Enabling potential with targeted support
Meet Dara* – a student at Marino College. They’re in sixth year and part of the P-TECH programme, which connects students from disadvantaged schools with industry mentors and career pathways.
Dara first encountered our firm through Legal Fridays in January 2023, where they gained early exposure to the legal profession and built confidence in a professional setting.
Recognising Dara’s potential, ALG then sponsored them through JumpAgrade. Dara’s teacher says they’ve shown significant improvement in maths as a result.
We continue to support Dara throughout their final year of second-level education, reinforcing our commitment to long-term, student-centred social mobility.
*not their real name
Third-level education programmes and partnerships
Our structured graduate recruitment programmes – the Trainee Programme, the Summer Internship Programme (SIP) and Law Start – are designed to attract, develop and retain diverse early talent.
In 2024, we exceeded our social mobility targets on these programmes, with 16% of SIP interviewees noting they were from a social mobility background and 13% of our internship spots going to social mobility students. Three quarters of these interns accepted a traineeship with us.
Other initiatives and outreach
- partner with Google EMEA for the Legal Summer Institute (LSI), which welcomes law school students underrepresented in the legal field
- offer accommodation support to ensure all successful applicants can participate in internships
- support several university Access programmes to support our efforts to employ more lawyers from socio-disadvantaged backgrounds
“My experience has solidified my aspirations to become a trainee solicitor at ALG. I’ve already made several connections and worked with people who do the work I aspire to do. The rich investment the firm has allocated to its interns and recruitment is evident.
“I've been exposed to the multidisciplinary nature of the work as well as the depth of resources and knowledge the firm takes pride in. Experiencing significant adversity from a young age and working extremely hard to get where I am gives me an excellent base from which to develop the right attributes and skills.”
Access intern, ALG
“Aspiring Solicitors supported me from when I was a first-year student at Queens University Belfast, with no connections to or knowledge on the legal industry, right through to securing a training contract with A&L Goodbody in my final year. The support and knowledge from those on the A&L Goodbody Mentoring Scheme was brilliant.”
Trainee at ALG
Empowering future legal talent through mentorship
Our partnership with Aspiring Solicitors reflects our commitment to fostering inclusion and creating meaningful career pathways in the legal profession.
From 2022 to 2024, we’ve supported 27 mentees through one-to-one mentoring relationships with our colleagues, helping develop participants’ confidence, awareness and understanding of what is required to become a lawyer.
We’ve enriched the experience with annual wrap-up sessions for each cohort, alongside practical workshops on CV writing, interview skills and role play.
Employment programmes
Our employment programmes are designed to create meaningful pathways into the workforce for young people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.
A standout initiative is our long-standing partnership with Career LEAP. Through it, we’ve facilitated nine work placements and offered two permanent positions in the past three years. Twenty of our people completed mentor training to support the work placements.
STRATEGIC FOCUS AREA
Employee fundraising and volunteering
Our firm and our people run innovative, high-impact fundraising initiatives that create lasting social and economic benefits for communities. By aligning our business strengths with meaningful causes, we inspire our people to contribute to a better future.
In 2023, we formed dedicated event fundraising committees to increase employee engagement and drive the success of our two major annual fundraisers:
Calcutta Run
Together with the Law Society of Ireland we founded this annual run to raise money for homelessness services in Ireland and Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). On average more than 140 of us take part from the firm each year, donating about €20,000.
Festive events
During the festive season we hold several fundraising events, including:
- the ALG Choir Christmas Concert in aid of Depaul Ireland
- festive bake sale in aid of St. Joseph’s Co-ed Primary School, East Wall, Dublin 1
- toy appeal for IFSC Inner City Trust, St Vincent De Paul, One Family, the Jesuit Refugee Service and H.O.P.E.
“It was all brilliant—raising money for charity, being part of the exciting atmosphere on the day, and seeing all our hard work pay off with successful events. I really enjoyed taking responsibility for different parts of it, knowing my efforts were part of a wider team working together to achieve ALG’s Responsible Business goals.”
Harry Robinson
Senior Associate and Calcutta Run Fundraising Committee member
“It was great connecting with colleagues from different departments across the firm and rewarding to contribute to a great cause in the run up to Christmas. It gave me a deeper appreciation for the behind-the-scenes work that goes into making these initiatives a success.”
Margaret Ogunjimi
Company Secretarial Advisor and Festive Fundraising Committee member
STRATEGIC FOCUS AREA
Pro bono
Our lawyers give their time to ignite positive social change. We focus on acting for those who struggle to access justice, enhancing legal literacy in the community and supporting effective civil society organisations and social enterprises.
In 2024 alone, we undertook over 325 pro bono matters with 375 legal professionals providing over 14,000+ hours of free legal advice.
Highlights 2022-2024
- created new community outreach programme for refugee applicants in partnership with the Irish Refugee Council, Jesuit Refugee Services and UNHCR reaching 1600 people
- facilitated the creation of a new pro bono network for in-house legal teams – InReach with legal teams from the tech, finance, pharma and construction industry participating
- celebrated 20 years of partnership with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland and its extensive alumni network
- 526 individuals provided with legal advice and assistance on issues relating to housing needs, refugee protection, family reunification or naturalisation
“As one of Ireland’s leading law firms, we believe it is part of our professional responsibility to lead a culture where pro bono work forms part of the solution in achieving environmental and social justice.”
Eithne Lynch
Head of Pro Bono
Our pro bono practice strategic focus areas are:
Promoting legal education and information
We enhance legal literary through education sessions, guides and research projects.
Developing human rights impact projects
With the support of independent law centres, we represent clients who are at risk, marginalised or in vulnerable and precarious situations and who can’t access legal services elsewhere.
Championing civil society
We support a strong and vibrant civil society by giving legal advice and help to related organisations.
Unlocking the potential of social enterprise
We support organisations to identify budding entrepreneurs and support them to grow and scale their ideas through legal advice and help.
Chambers Europe Highly Commended for Pro Bono (2024)
PILnet Local Impact Award for Ukraine response at a national level (2024)
Volunteering Award for pro bono support of Ukraine community – Chambers Ireland (2023)
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