Allen & Overy

Allen & Overy are pleased to announce the launch of the "2008 University of Birmingham Pro-Bono Challenge" - an exciting competition where individuals or teams can pitch their big pro-bono or community initiatives to A&O, with the aim of securing our £1,000 prize fund.

Respecting and including every individual is a key value at Allen & Overy, and one that applies equally to the wider community as well as to our staff.  By working with our local communities we are able to identify and respond to their needs, offering help that makes an enduring impact, whether we are assisting with literacy or numeracy schemes in inner city schools or providing access to justice for those who cannot afford it.

Now we would like to offer undergraduates at the University of Birmingham the opportunity to work with us on a new or existing initiative that would benefit from some additional funding.  Don't feel restricted in your ideas - we are keen to hear about all kinds of pro-bono or charitable activities - whether they are initiatives that you are currently involved in, or projects that you have always wanted to start up but have lacked the funding to do so.

The competition is open to Law students from all year groups at the University of Birmingham.  This includes anyone who is studying Law as part of a joint degree.

To enter the competition, please download our entry form to tell us more about your proposal.  The closing date for entries is 31st January 2008.

Your entry should include the following:

• A detailed description of your idea and why the prize fund will benefit the activity
• Information on how the prize fund will be used

Entries should be no more than 1,000 words in length and can be submitted by individuals or teams.

Once we have received all of the entries, the best ideas will be short-listed and the successful entrants will be invited to pitch their ideas (in the form of a 10 minute presentation) to our A&) panel in March 2008 at a location on campus.  The panel will include one of our Partners, our Pro-Bono Senior Manager and our Graduate Recruitment Manager.  Your fellow students will be more than welcome to attend the final to lend moral support on the night.

Matthew Townsend, Corporate Partner and Head of our University of Birmingham Alumni Team says "We're delighted to launch this initiative.  It's a fantastic opportunity for students to get some of their pro-bono ideas off the ground.  We're looking for how imaginative people can be and whether their ideas will really make a difference.  We know students at Birmingham are talented and we're excited about supporting the winning idea."

The winning idea will be publicised on our website after the final and throughout the academic year.

Good luck to all the finalists!

To find out more about Allen & Overy's pro-bono and community commitments click here.