Pioneer in Brazil, Mattos Filho’s Pro Bono turns 20
The engagement of partners, lawyers and interns was essential to the success and development of the project, which set to foster social transformation through legal service of excellence from the start.
“Mattos Filho begins a new project, a new idea, which is the implementation and installation of a pro bono law department. This project stems from the need for lawyers, interns and law students to exercise their social function and contribute to the community in the exercise of their profession.” That is how Roberto Quiroga, partner at Mattos Filho, announced the beginning of the firm’s pro bono practice — in 1999.
The first institutions attended by the centre were indicated by Mattos Filho’s professionals and validated by the pro bono team. At the time, the collaborative character was already in the office’s DNA.
The Beginning of Everything
The desire to implement pro bono activities came after Roberto Quiroga gave a lecture for law students at a PUC-São Paulo. There, he identified the importance of lawyers’ social function and wanted to raise this flag within large law firms. Quiroga shared this idea with partner Flavia Regina de Souza Oliveira and together they sought alternatives to implement the project. Mattos Filho’s action was a pioneer in the Brazilian market.
“Quiroga came to talk to me, explained the idea and I said let’s do it. We studied, we searched websites, we saw what was effectively pro bono, whether or not there was regulation and how offices outside the country did it, ” recalls Flavia Regina.
“And really, we identified with this initiative. We saw that we could do something different, beyond traditional advocacy. Perhaps, promoting law as an instrument for strengthening civil society is our best and most important mission”, says Quiroga.
From the pro bono law department to the Mattos Filho 100% pro bono practice
The engagement of partners, lawyers and interns was essential to the success and development of the project. From the start, the purpose of this group was to foster social transformation through legal service of excellence. If service of excellence was already our brand, we started working on what was missing.
Among many meetings, submissions, and pro bono clients, there are striking stories, such as the Solidary Action Against Child Cancer (ASCCI). “On the day we went to visit the institution, the director was very happy with the free legal advice from the office. She told us that, with our support, she felt safe telling the children undergoing cancer treatment ‘I am here, being strong to offer the support you need’, because Mattos Filho was the support that made her feel safe”, says Flavia Regina.
Over the years, the project has substantially grown. The pro bono law department became the Mattos Filho Pro Bono Program and, with 10 years of activity, it accumulated more than 20,000 hours worked.
Helping in the development of pro bono in the country, the office actively participated in talks with the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) to regulate the support to natural persons in 2016. “It was an educational process for all of us. This has also spread in the Brazilian legal market, and more recently, after many conversations with some institutions, such as the Pro Bono Institute, we have gotten the OAB to approve the possibility of doing free pro bono activity for individuals”, says Quiroga.
In the same year, in another pioneering action, with the arrival of Bianca dos Santos Waks, Mattos Filho was the first law firm in Latin America to hire a professional fully dedicated to the activity.
The exclusive dedication, along with the existing structure of the program, provided a great development for the area. “We needed a very coordinated, planned step that would make sense along with the firm’s lines of action. The idea was not to only take cases of individuals, but we needed to connect this with a more strategic action, with a reflection on research and support to civil society organizations. “We formed a mosaic that has been working”,comments Bianca.
After two years, in 2018, the firm once again innovated in the market and positioned pro bono as an area of practice, along with the other arears of the firm. With the launch of Mattos Filho 100% pro bono, we reinforced our position to encourage and structure the execution of the social role of Law. “The Public Defender’s Office of the State of São Paulo has about 700 lawyers to serve the entire state. The office alone has about 600 lawyers, just Mattos Filho. Yes, we have a great power of contribution”, says Bianca.
In a remarkable story, the Bianca recalls a service to a refugee from Congo. “We set up a meeting at the São Paulo office at 11 am. Around 7 am, they called me telling me she was here. I rushed to the office and she explained that the reason for the early arrival was her fear of having a queue and, consequently, missing the opening hours. This is very symbolic, knowing the context of refugees in the country”.
After 20 years of operation, we have accumulated over 100,000 pro bono hours, 200 professionals involved and 90 clients. To celebrate this date, we invited professionals who are related to the initiative to explain what it is and how important pro bono is to their lives.
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