London Team Honored as TrustLaw’s “Lawyers of the Year”

Partner Gail Crawford and associates Oscar Bjartell, Liz Longster, and Timothy Neo were honored as “Lawyers of the Year” by TrustLaw, the pro bono service of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The Lawyer of the Year award recognizes a lawyer or team of lawyers who “demonstrated exceptional effort and enthusiasm in support of pro bono clients on projects undertaken through TrustLaw,” with the pool of nominations chosen by TrustLaw’s NGO and social enterprise community. 

The London-based team was recognized for their work with The Vavengers, a London-based nonprofit that supports women affected by female genital mutilation and cutting and other forms of violence against women and girls.

“TrustLaw plays a critical role in supporting human rights around the world, and we are humbled to have received this honor,” said Crawford. “We are also proud to have partnered with The Vavengers to further the organization’s mission of ending violence against women.”

In addition to the Lawyer of the Year Award, lawyers from our Brussels, Milan, and Madrid offices were shortlisted for the 2023 Impact Award for their work on the pro bono report “Undocumented Migrant Women in Europe: A Neglected Chapter in Fundamental Rights Protection” in collaboration with several other firms. The report highlights the provisions that exist to protect the fundamental rights of undocumented migrant women in the legal systems of the EU and Council of Europe, as well as the gaps in legislation which lead to undocumented migrant women suffering abuse.