Mattos Filho 100% Pro Bono

Mattos Filho believes in the social role of law and legal practice. For this reason, we have been at the forefront of pro bono legal work in Brazil 25 years, seeking to contribute to democratizing access to justice and the defense of human rights.

Our Mattos Filho 100% Pro Bono practice area is formed by a team of lawyers and interns who dedicated their efforts exclusively to providing free legal service for cases concerning human rights and the public interest. The practice serves people of many different profiles in socially vulnerable situations, non-profit entities that cannot afford legal services and leading human rights research and advocacy organizations.

"When we provide pro bono support in constituting a community-based group or a collective movement, we help them make their voice heard and protect the rights of socially vulnerable groups, which is fundamental for increasing access to justice in Brazil."

Flavia Regina Oliveira, partner

Our work

The Mattos Filho 100% Pro bono practice works on two main fronts – promoting and defending human rights and strengthening civil society organizations.

Our efforts are focused on offering exemplary assistance free of charge to entities that cannot afford legal services – in accordance with Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) regulations – and individuals in socially and economically vulnerable situations. We focus on the rights of women, LGBTIAP+ people, refugees and migrants, as well as in the areas of criminal justice and racial rights. We also support local and international organizations by conducting research and producing material on law and human rights.

Cooperation with the Public Defender's Office

Since 2019, the firm has been cooperating with the Public Defender’s Office of the State of São Paulo to defend socioeconomically vulnerable people – an initiative led by the Mattos Filho 100% Pro Bono practice. This unprecedented initiative regarding access to justice in Brazil focuses on cases related to defending women’s rights, ethnic and racial rights and those of LGBTQIAP+ people.

GRF Legal Community Pledge

We are the only Brazilian law firm to be part of the Global Refugee Forum Legal Community Pledge, a global network of law firms committed to defending the rights of refugees and migrants. The initiative seeks to strengthen these groups’ access to their rights, to justice and create lasting solutions to displacement and migration-related issues.

Pro bono in numbers

professionals exclusively providing pro bono services

+550

volunteer professionals

+17

thousand pro bono hours in 2022

Our partners

A sócia ariane possui cabelos longos, castanhos, com as pontas mais claras. Na foto, está com uma expressão leve e alegre. Está usando blazer vermelho, com lenço estampado, e batom rosa.

Ariane Guimarães

Flavia Regina Oliveira

Mario Prada

Roberto Quiroga

Único. The Mattos Filho news portal

Latest publications

Mattos Filho releases second edition of Human Rights in Evidence

Subjects:

Pro Bono

Integrated Report 2023

We present Pulso, Mattos Filho’s new integrated report. Having pioneered annual disclosures of results among Brazilian law firms, this time, the firm reinforces its commitment to transparency in an innovative way. Featuring multimedia content and an interactive approach, Pulso offers clients a better digital experience. The texts and videos contain information on the three ESG fronts, as well as key business developments that impacted the economy in 2023 and should remain top-of-mind in 2024.

Click here to learn more

Awards and Recognitions

Chambers Brazil – Pro Bono: Outstanding Firm (2022)

Latin Lawyer 250 – Highlighted out for the eleventh consecutive year as one of the firms most engaged in pro bono work (2013-2024)

Latin Lawyer Pro Bono Survey – Leading Light for providing free legal services to non-profit organizations (2012–2022)

TrustLaw – One of Brazil’s highlights in the Thomson Reuters TrustLaw Index of Pro Bono (2014-2016; 2019) and recognized in the “Collaboration Award” category (2022)

Who’s Who Legal- The only Brazilian law firm to be recognized as Highly Recommended for its pro bono work (2018)

Lumen – Recognized in the Social Responsibility and Pro Bono category (2022) and good management practices, social responsibility efforts and pro bono initiatives among law firms (2017, 2019 – 2021)

International Tax Review – Americas Tax Pro Bono Firm of the Year (2016)

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