Through our large-scale global network, we are well placed to address global challenges through local actions.
We recognise our duty to donate talents, time and resources to benefit greater society. Whether donating money, volunteering time or legal counsel, or bringing awareness to important causes, we invest in community programs to ensure our people can bring their passions and purpose-led selves to work.
Our people are supported and empowered to make an impact on the communities and causes that
matter most to them.
Our global partnership with the International Rescue Committee
Eversheds Sutherland is a proud global partner of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the global non-profit organisation that helps people affected by humanitarian crises.
We provide the IRC with financial and pro bono support to help ensure its focus can remain on supporting those most in need across the 40+ countries where the IRC works with its local partners.
Our International approach to supporting our local communities
Our International community strategy focuses on three core pillars:
- Social mobility and education
- Poverty
- Environmental partnerships
We support this mission through financial contributions, volunteering, and gifts in kind to support charities at global, national and local levels.
Find out more, view our latest Responsible Business Report.
Highlights of our work in the community
Since 2000, the Eversheds Sutherland (International) Charitable Trust has supported hundreds of charitable initiatives in the UK. In the last five years alone, the Trust has donated in excess of £2.7 million. Donations have been made to a wide range of organisations and causes including the International Rescue Committee and WWT, as well as charities nominated by individual offices and contributions to global emergency appeals. In addition, the Trust continues to offer matched funding to support colleagues and teams undertaking fundraising activities for causes of personal significance.
Our aim is to offer support across a range of age groups for less advantaged children and young people to help them broaden their horizons and access opportunities, with a focus on education around careers in the legal profession.
Chapter One UK
Our colleagues support primary school children facing disadvantage to build confidence and strengthen their literacy skills through weekly one‑to‑one online reading sessions delivered via Chapter One UK’s interactive virtual platform. We are proud to support this innovative programme and to contribute to Chapter One’s ambitious goal of sharing One Million Stories with children by 2030.
Eversheds Sutherland is a Platinum Partner and was the first corporate supporter of Chapter One’s Early Literacy Intervention (ELI) programme. ELI provides targeted one‑to‑one support to approximately 40 children who are not progressing through whole‑class phonics teaching.
Unlocked
Eversheds Sutherland Unlocked is a UK based programme aimed at sixth form students from less privileged backgrounds, who are the first of their family to go to university, are studying at state schools and have a genuine enthusiasm for the legal profession. We work with the Sutton Trust through their Pathways to Law programme to offer the students a period of work experience within the firm providing them with an in-depth insight into what it is like to work for an international law firm. Unlocked was first piloted in 2008 and launched in 2009. Since then we have supported nearly 1500 students.
Scott Wagland, Gemma Curtis and Helen Annable Bursaries
Supplementing our Unlocked programme, is our-long standing bursary scheme, which provides financial support for university tuition fees throughout the duration of a degree for selected Unlocked participants. The Bursary also provides students with mentors from the firm, and vacation scheme opportunities. Of the 15 bursary recipients we have supported over the last five years, seven individuals were offered training contracts with Eversheds Sutherland and many have built successful careers both at the firm and across the wider legal profession.
Middle East Law Programme for Refugees
Run in partnership with two global refugee organisations, the programme provides opportunities to displaced individuals through a comprehensive scheme that supports skill development and employability. It is open to individuals of any age or nationality who have registered refugee status, based in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan or the Palestinian Territories and are studying law at university. Since the beginning of the programme, ten individuals have completed in-person internships across our Amman and Erbil offices. We have continued our financial sponsorship of several students, funding the full tuition fees of five undergraduate students
JINC
Our Amsterdam and Rotterdam offices have collaborated with Dutch social mobility charity JINC. Through their programme, JINC introduces students aged 8 - 16 to a wide range of professions, helping them discover their strengths and develop essential career skills through one-to-one coaching, workplace experiences, and career-focused activities.
Supporting Migrant Domestic Workers
Our Hong Kong office supports PathFinders and HELP, non-profit organisations dedicated to supporting and safeguarding the rights of migrant domestic workers (‘MDWs’) and their children, many of whom are stateless and thus unable to access even the most basic social assistance. Our colleagues have worked with the partner charities to deliver activities such as educational workshops on financial literacy. The most recent session, attended by 40 people, covered topics including loans, money lending practices and scam prevention.
Our aim is to help alleviate poverty through targeted intervention and financial support.
Magic Breakfast
Since 2021, we have partnered with Magic Breakfast, a charity working to support schools with 35% or more of pupils who are eligible for Pupil Premium. Their aim is to ensure no child is too hungry to learn. Our support has helped the charity provide over 714,000 nutritious breakfasts to children. Colleagues volunteer weekly at breakfast clubs across seven primary schools located near our offices. Volunteers have also supported schools with garden maintenance, playground painting and fundraising.
World Food Day
Every year, to mark World Food Day, offices across the firm come together to support local food banks and the communities they serve through food drives, giving opportunities and volunteering. In October 2025, offices across the firm participated in this initiative and donated over 3,336 food items, equivalent to 1.55 tonnes. In addition to food items, many of our offices made generous monetary donations to support their local food banks, which will go a long way in supporting those facing food insecurity in our communities.
Combatting poverty and food wastage in Hong Kong
Our Hong Kong office regularly collaborates with charities, Food Angel and Food for Good 齊惜福 to prepare meal boxes from reclaimed foodstuffs that are then delivered to members of the Hong Kong community. At the most recent event, our colleagues packed over 2,000 meals.
Christmas giving campaign in Germany
Our Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich offices came together for a Christmas giving campaign encouraging colleagues to nominate charities to receive financial support. Following the campaign, five charities received support:
- ArbeiterKind
- Social Projekt Hamburg
- Kältebus München
- Médecins Sans Frontières
- Tierheim Berlin
Our aim is to develop partnerships and volunteering opportunities that helps us to play our part to protect and enhance the environment.
WWT
We have partnered with WWT, the charity for wetlands and wildlife since 2017, providing financial support and volunteering across their UK wetland centres. Since October 2017, we have supported the WWT’s biodiversity programme through a partnership that sees our colleagues and clients volunteer at one of the organisation’s nine specialist visitor centres across the UK. Volunteers contribute to tasks such as reed clearance, hide maintenance, and removal of invasive plant species. In 2024/25, a total of 71 individuals volunteered across six volunteering days, four of which were with clients.
In 2024 we provided an initial grant to the Wetland Wildflowers initiative, which aims to restore 400 hectares of the Severn Vale’s unique floodplain meadows by growing and supplying native wildflower plug plants. The plants will help enhance habitats, support biodiversity, and contribute to flood mitigation and carbon storage.
In celebration of World Wetlands Day, we launched an international, curriculum-linked competition aimed to ignite creativity and raise awareness about the crucial role of wetlands. Children aged 4–11 were invited to design their own wetland creatures, with over 250 entries received. Winners collectively received over £2,000 worth of educational and environmentally focused prizes.
Wetlands Link International
Expanding on our work with WWT in the UK, we became core supporters of Wetland Link International ('WLI') in 2023. WLI is a WWT-led support network for wetland education centres that delivers engagement activities on site with 350 members spanning six continents.
We exclusively fund the Wetlands Link International Small Grants Scheme. To date, our funding has supported 18 fantastic projects, helping to advance wetland education, nature conservation, and community engagement.