Ropes & Gray Recognised for “Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership” at LawWorks Pro Bono Awards

Rankings & Awards
December 6, 2023

Ropes & Gray has been named joint winner of the “Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership Award” at the LawWorks Pro Bono Awards 2023, in recognition of the firm’s collaboration with Bloomberg, Imperial College, and six other law firms on the Green Tech Legal Collaborative (GTLC), which provides pro bono legal support to green tech start-ups from Imperial College’s Enterprise Lab.

The pioneering GTLC programme, created by, Bloomberg, Imperial College, Ropes & Gray and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, stemmed from the founding members’ shared vision of supporting climate action and sustainability through a legal/compliance pro bono initiative. GTLC launched in 2021 with the initial goal of helping six green tech startups navigate a wide range of complex legal and compliance challenges. The programme has grown and evolved over time and this year Ashurt, Mayer Brown, Travers Smith, Shearman & Sterling, and Venner Shipley joined the founding members in supporting 18 green tech start-ups through the programme.

Ruchit Patel, London partner and member of the Policy Committee, said: “We are delighted that LawWorks has recognised the important impact of the Green Tech Legal Collaborative, which was started by a group of like-minded legal and compliance professionals who wanted to support climate action using our collective expertise and specialisms. At Ropes & Gray, we are passionate about pro bono and extremely proud of what the GTLC programme and its volunteers have achieved over the past three years.”

LawWorks is a charity which connects volunteer lawyers with people in need of legal advice who are not eligible for legal aid and cannot afford to pay and with the not-for-profit organisations that support them. The annual awards celebrate the best legal pro bono activities undertaken by organisations and individuals and the positive impact they have had on those helped.