Evidently it’s in our nature to help people. For many years we have made significant donations to a large number of charities via the Norton Rose Charitable Foundation, established in 2004. Funded by donations from our partners, the Foundation has a global reach and has no direct connection with the law or in promoting the practice.
Supporting charities by giving our time is important to us and we continually seek and utilise opportunities to get involved.We have a highly-skilled workforce who are able and willing to contribute to society; in the majority of cases, these opportunities are used as team-building exercises that enable people to get to know each other and utilise hidden skills. The work we undertake makes a real difference to the charities.
When we’re not actively working with a charity, we are fundraising. Whether it’s paying to wear jeans to work, running a marathon, or climbing four mountains in two days, people in all of our offices raise money for the good of others. Many of the activities are arranged and promoted by the Staff Charity Committee whose aim is to raise money for a variety of charities.
For the fifth year running, 25 people from our Frankfurt office entered the JP Morgan Chase Challenge, the world’s largest corporate road race.
Team captain FabianBerck said: “It was great to take part in the race to raise money for Deutsche Sporthilfe which helps handicapped children get active. As well as helping a good cause, it gave us the opportunity to get to know each other from a different perspective.”
In June, four young lawyers packed away their suits and pulled on their walking boots to take part in one of the UK’s toughest charity events, the Wooden Spoon Four Peaks Challenge.
Mark Fine, Leigh-Anne Jansen van Rensburgand Peter Howley, along with their driver Rhys Parsons, joined 39 other teams in a race to climb four mountains – Ben Nevis in Scotland, Helvellyn in England, Snowdon in Wales and Carantouhill in Ireland – in less than 48 hours.
Wooden Spoon, the charity of British and Irish rugby, helps thousands of disabled and disadvantaged children and young people.Mark said: “Peter, Rhys and I play rugby and Leigh-Anne is an avid fan so we’ve heard a great deal about Wooden Spoon. We saw the challenge as an opportunity to take part in a tough, physical race while raising money for a very good cause.”
Taking part in the gruelling challenge resulted in the team raising over £15,000 for the charity and winning the Mixed Team Award with a climbing time of 12 hours 25 minutes.