Mattos Filho 100% Pro Bono

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

Our efforts are focused on offering exemplary assistance free of charge to organizations 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 criminal justice, racial rights, and children who are victims of violence. We also support local and international organizations by producing research and material on law and human rights, and collaborate with academic and civil society institutions that act as amici curiae in Brazil’s higher courts.

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.