Allen & Overy

Many of our clients are reaping the benefits of globalisation while also meeting the challenges it creates.

As an international law firm, our overriding goal is to work alongside our clients as a trusted adviser, providing the support they need to thrive in this dynamic economic environment.

And as our clients have moved to maximise commercial opportunities in new markets, so have we. We continue to invest in a growing network of international offices that covers Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, the Americas and most recently Africa.

With 42 offices in 29 countries, our presence is amongst the largest of any legal practice. Nearly 70% of our work involves Allen & Overy offices in two or more jurisdictions and more than 50% involves at least three.

These figures are a testament to our ability to provide seamless advice to clients on their most complex, multi-jurisdictional matters.

But our presence is only half of the story. Our 5,000 staff, including over 500 partners worldwide, work together in a highly integrated manner to leverage their expertise and experience for our clients’ benefit.

In a proud 80-year history, we’ve fostered creative, independent thinking within a collaborative culture, to ensure that outstanding things happen when the best minds work together.

As a result, our lawyers are involved in many of the most influential commercial ventures and are known for providing clients with pioneering solutions to the toughest legal challenges. This, above all, explains why Allen & Overy remains a leader in its field.

PRO BONO & COMMUNITY

Our pro bono and community affairs programme is integral to the way we do business.

We prioritise strategically, we look to use our skills and resources to meet priority need and we are committed to reviewing our performance so we have the most effective impact.

As one of the leading global law firms we believe we have a responsibility to engage with and support the communities around us, involving our clients and our supply chain, to best meet community needs.

Our programmes draw on all of the skills across our business. We believe that all within our firm have much to add and a role to play.

To maximise our impact we focus our work around four core themes:

– access to justice
– access to education and employability
– global firm, global response
– helping our local communities

Within these themes each of our offices crafts its own priorities to make best use of the skills they can offer and to do what is most needed in the area they support.

To deliver our programmes we work with a range of strategic partners and recognise that we can achieve the most when we work together with experts in each field, as we are in our own.

Our last financial year saw us dedicate over £15 million of time to our pro bono and community programmes. More importantly, our programmes enable our people to make a positive impact on the lives of the communities where we operate and they live around the world.

Partnering with clients

We engage and partner with our clients across every aspect of our pro bono and community programme. We believe so much more can be achieved when we work together drawing on one another’s skills, experience and ideas.

From working together to mentor and support young people achieve their very best to delivering training on commercial law together in Rwanda, from developing shared partnerships with charities to supporting community initiatives and the education sector, we see our clients as having a central role in achieving the very best for our local and global communities.

We are experienced in creating or locating the right partnership possibilities for our clients and have a strong track record globally in this area. Because we engage with all of our people within the firm, we are also especially well placed to create the right opportunities for people all across our clients’ businesses, not just lawyers alone.

Alongside the practical programmes we deliver, we also draw on our experience and skills to assist our clients with the development of their own pro bono and community programmes.

RENEWABLES AND CLEAN TECHNOLOGY

With the reduction of carbon emissions and the assurance of energy security so high on the agenda for governments and energy companies, renewable energy (on and off shore wind, solar, hydro and marine power) is as an essential part of the solution for slowing the pace of climate change and improving energy security.

With ambitious carbon reduction targets being set globally and regionally, many governments incentivise the development of renewables through support programmes, such as feed-in tariffs, which are having a positive impact on the pace of development of renewables. All these factors make this an exciting industry to work in, and one that requires its advisers to have sector–specific knowledge backed up by a global resource capability.

Allen & Overy provides pioneering advice on the entire lifecycle of these assets, from the consenting and planning process, through to the construction, financing, operation, maintenance and ultimately their refinancing or sale. We are at the forefront of the renewable energy market, advising debt funders (including banks, bond arrangers, ECAs, DFIs and multilaterals), sellers and acquirers (on M&A transactions), sponsors, corporates (including large vertically integrated utilities), suppliers, manufacturers and governments on market leading projects and transactions globally. These transactions are supported by our specialists in areas such as environmental law, regulatory, tax and planning.