Since the beginning of its history, Mattos Filho has endeavored to give back to society part of what it has achieved over the years, through initiatives that promote an increasingly fair and equal society. In 1999, the firm pioneered the practice of pro bono legal service in Brazil, and since then it has evolved constantly, making social issues part of its culture. For more than 10 years as a signatory to the UN Global Compact – the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world – the firm continues to reinforce its commitment to work in favor of social transformation through structured programs.
Mattos Filho makes these initiatives worthwhile maintaining its social DNA as the basis of its strategy. Today, the firm works from the perspective of Human Rights in the internal and external projects, seeking to support actions that are aligned with the business and that promote broad access to justice. Its social ecosystem, formed by three pillars, brings together the pro bono practice, the Corporate Citizenship area, and the Instituto Mattos Filho (Mattos Filho Institute), an independent initiative of the firm’s partners.
“We are inspired by the relevant social issues around the world, and the idea is to spread these initiatives in the legal field”, says Roberto Quiroga, founding partner of the firm.
From the work carried out in 2019, it is possible to list three important milestones: the celebration of 20 years of pro bono work at the firm, the relaunch of the corporate volunteer program (Mova), and the creation of the LiRe – affinity group for religious freedom.
Mattos Filho’s initiatives
We have a strategic plan to evaluate our commitment every five years, with the goal of encouraging all lawyers to do pro bono work to effectively arrive at what we call our theory of change: transforming society through Justice.
Flavia Regina de Souza Oliveira
Partner of Mattos Filho’s Pro bono and Charities, Social Business and Human rights practices
With a total of 100 thousand hours dedicated to the free assistance of organizations and individuals, this was an important milestone reached in 2019 by the Mattos Filho’s pro bono practice, which completed two decades supporting the strengthening of civil society and, more recently, the promotion and defense of human rights. Pioneer among the full-service firms to develop this practice in Brazil, Mattos Filho is the only firm to have an exclusive area for pro bono work, today composed of six lawyers and three interns hired exclusively to practice public interest law. The team is supported by more than 300 volunteer professionals, from different areas, including partners, lawyers, and interns.
“Nothing better than volunteering in our profession. Especially because the Estatuto da OAB (Brazilian Bar Association Statute) says that the legal practice has its social nature. It was an innovation to bring to the firm a group of lawyers that work only with social causes”, says partner Roberto Quiroga, who in 1999 made the initiative viable, then called Pro Bono Program.
In the last year alone, the practice served 133 clients, 98 of which were civil society organizations and 35 individuals with issues related to the violation of human rights. “We collaborate with community-based entities, which help individuals who are in vulnerable situations. This is the biggest client in the practice area”, explains Flavia Regina de Souza Oliveira, partner of Mattos Filho’s Pro bono and Charities, Social Business and Human rights practices.
The growth of pro bono practice is also aligned with the progress of access to Justice as an essential citizenship right. In this sense, Mattos Filho has intensified the relationship with different agencies and developed cooperation agreements with civil society organizations and government agencies, such as the Public Defender’s Office of the State of São Paulo, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Defense Centers for Women in the city of São Paulo, Instituto Igarapé (Igarapé Institute), Geledés – Instituto da Mulher Negra (Geledés – Black Women’s Institute), Caritas Arquidiocesana de São Paulo e do Rio de Janeiro (Caritas Archdiocese of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), among others.
We needed a very coordinated strategy that made sense with the firm’s actions. It was also necessary to act in a network, connecting this practice with a well-planned strategy of reflection and research on human rights.
Bianca dos Santos Waks
Coordinating lawyer of Mattos Filho’s 100% Pro Bono team
The structuring of pro bono activities is part of Mattos Filho’s long-term vision. “We needed a very coordinated strategy that made sense with the firm’s actions. It was also necessary to act in a network, connecting this practice with a well-planned strategy of reflection and research on human rights. From that, we formed a mosaic that has worked,” explains Bianca dos Santos Waks, coordinating lawyer of Mattos Filho’s 100% Pro Bono team.
To celebrate the two-decade milestone of the pro bono practice and reflect on the potential of public interest law, in 2019, the firm published the book Direitos Humanos em evidência – Pesquisas e estudos elaborados por Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr. e Quiroga Advogados em atuação pro bono (‘Human Rights in evidence – Research and studies prepared by Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr. and Quiroga Advogados working pro bono’). With versions in Portuguese and English, the initiative brings together the technical and legal knowledge acquired and contributes to the discussion on the topic.
For the future, Flavia points out that the path will be to expand active work by democratizing access to justice. “We have a strategic plan to evaluate our commitment every five years, with the goal of encouraging all lawyers to do pro bono work to effectively arrive at what we call our theory of change: transforming society through Justice. 20 years from now, we want to see that our work has had even more effect, that many more lawyers in the market do pro bono work, and that inequality in access to justice is not as it was any more “, she concludes.
Responsibility, empathy, and actions to face Covid-19
In 2020, the world faces one of its biggest challenges: the Covid-19 pandemic. The public health crisis brought many challenges since it impacted the population by causing immediate effects in both the health and economic spheres.
People in vulnerable situations need support at different levels to have access to programs that guarantee their most basic needs. For this reason, all efforts in the areas of Corporate Citizenship and Mattos Filho’s pro bono activities were redirected during the pandemic, to act strategically to reduce the health and economic impacts caused by the virus, as well as in the promotion and defense of rights of the most vulnerable groups.
The firm promoted the initiatives of the volunteer and Diversity and Inclusion programs, which were adapted to the new reality and expanded the provision of free legal services to civil society organizations with more than 2 thousand hours dedicated to the areas of public health, income generation and social protection, and the promotion and defense of human rights.
The professionals were encouraged to donate professional expertise or time in social initiatives, expanding the sense of solidarity, and enhancing the results in this regard. It is on this path that the firm rewrites its role in society in order to contribute to reducing the effects that the pandemic will leave for the entire planet.
Until june, it was about 35 opened pro bono cases, 12 actions in partnership with clients and companies, and 6 corporate citizenship initiatives, involving both Diversity and Inclusion and corporate volunteer programs.
ut the more people reinforcing, corroborating, and reiterating that perception, the better. The power of the allies’ voice is to reach people who have not yet been touched by the cause.
Laura Davis Mattar
Corporate Citizenship manager
In line with national and international initiatives that Mattos Filho is a signatory to and with policies that positively contribute to the vision of management and governance, the firm has evolved in several initiatives during 2019. Whether within the scope of common volunteering, environmental responsibility, or promoting equity, the goal of engaging professionals to act as citizens in assorted relevant causes has been achieved.
“There is nothing that proves the program’s success more than being a reference in the market in general, beyond the legal area”, says Laura Davis Mattar, Corporate Citizenship manager. According to her, the consolidation of the projects in the last year is evident from how Mattos Filho has been increasingly sought to tell about its experience in the area of corporate citizenship.
Among them, is the relaunch of the volunteer program, called Mova, responsible only in 2019 for 40 actions carried out in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília, in addition to initiatives with the participation of professionals in London and New York. Among the supported issues are education, citizenship, people with disabilities, refugees, homeless people, LGBTQIAP+, among others.
The new program joins other areas that already existed before, such as the Programa de Diversidade e Inclusão (Diversity and Inclusion Program), which has affinity groups dedicated to the following themes:
Also launched in 2019, LiRe is the affinity group created to ensure that professionals feel comfortable expressing their religious beliefs and customs, promoting dialogue between religions with information and tolerance. As part of the group’s actions, in addition to the elaboration of an internal policy related to the theme, the firm received the philosopher Luiz Felipe Pondé, who brought a history of religious freedom and information on different religions and beliefs.
From these initiatives, the firm reinforces the importance of its diversity policy for attracting, developing, and retaining talents and, thus, for maintaining excellent deliveries to clients, in addition to the dissemination of a humanized view of professionals. In a diverse environment, teams produce better, are quicker at solving complex problems, more innovative, and more efficient.
In addition, Mattos Filho’s social DNA values the participation of all professionals in the program, whether they are from vulnerable groups or their allies. “Women speak on behalf of women, gays on behalf of gays, blacks on behalf of blacks, etc. No one will speak on their behalf. But the more people reinforcing, corroborating, and reiterating that perception, the better. The power of the allies’ voice is to reach people who have not yet been touched by the cause”, details the manager.
In the area of environmental responsibility, Mattos Filho committed itself to initiatives to minimize the impact of its activities on nature. The firm joined the UN Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign, in which it signed a commitment to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
Besides, it continued to promote recycling and reducing the consumption of paper, plastic, and energy. Since June 2019, the firm has promoted the project Menos é mas (Less is more), composed of a multidisciplinary team, which maps opportunities for improvements in sustainability management and positively stimulates the individual awareness of professionals.
2019 marked the beginning of the activities and programs of the Instituto Mattos Filho (Mattos Filho Institute), an independent initiative by the partners of the firm that promotes and supports actions regarding the strengthening and democratization of law.
After the first year of strategic planning and early performance, the Institute opened two of its three programs, having received recognition and legitimacy for them. “The Institute forms a relevant bond with society to give back what we have achieved as professionals over the years,” says partner Roberto Quiroga.
Among the projects developed, we highlight the first edition of the Desafio de Acesso à Justiça (Access to Justice Challenge), created to reward initiatives by individuals, teams, academic groups, and civil society organizations that work in the defense of human rights, promotion of citizenship and democracy and, mainly, expanding access to justice.
The challenge included 133 applications, which after two phases were evaluated by a group of judges formed by renowned experts in the field of human rights and access to justice, in addition to a partner from Mattos Filho. In total, 140 thousand Brazilian reais were paid in prizes and split into three initiatives:
The Maré de Direitos project carried out by an organization called Redes da Maré (RJ), which provides socio-legal assistance to residents of the Maré complex, in the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro;
The Projeto Reapropriação de Territórios Tradicionais da Região do Alto Rio Pardo pela via da Ação Popular (Reappropriation of Traditional Territories in the Alto Rio Pardo Region Through the Citizen Suit Project), carried out by the Centro de Agricultura Alternativa do Norte de Minas (Center for Alternative Agriculture in the North of Minas Gerais);
Transpasse Project, carried out by the Human Rights Clinic of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), which provides socio-legal assistance to the trans population of the capital of Minas Gerais;
The study on basic laws and rights of the Brazilian citizen was also a central theme of the Mattos Filho Institute in 2019, through the Artigo Quinto project. Created in partnership with the NGO Politize! it aims to explain in a didactic and accessible way the items of Article 5 of the Brazilian Constitution, using texts, podcasts, and videos.
The project was part of the 1ª Mostra GIFE de Inovação Social (1st GIFE Social Innovation Exhibition) and had more than 232 thousand accesses on the hot site, 72 thousand podcast downloads, and 13.8 thousand video views.
Finally, focused on promoting access to quality education for young people with low income and high academic potential, the Institute offered 18 scholarships to law students, who also had the opportunity to have Mattos Filho partners as mentors.
In 2019, the Institute promoted two editions of the Encontro de Bolsistas (Scholarship Meeting), which a space for debates on topics related to the legal career. In the first edition, Professor Carlos Ari Sundfeld, together with the founding partner of the firm, Ary Oswaldo Mattos Filho, spoke about the academic life of the law student. In the second, Professor Rafael Mafei Rabelo Queiroz spoke about research and methodology at the academy.
Mattos Filho Institute in numbers
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