Silver Jubilee Big Tick

DLA Piper - Silver Jubilee Big Tick

A decade of supporting young entrepreneurs through their partnership with the Prince's Trust

“Over the last ten years, DLA Piper’s partnership with the Prince's Trust has had a positive impact of the lives of thousands of the hardest-to-reach young people in the UK. Through funding support, the provision of mentors and pro bono advice for young businesses, and gifts in kind, DLA Piper has enabled new entrepreneurs to succeed where every other avenue was closed. 

Martina MilburnCEO, The Prince's Trust

DLA Piper is a global legal services provider, operating across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US with 3,200 lawyers in 64 offices in 24 countries. The partnership between the Prince's Trust and DLA Piper began in Manchester in 1997 arising from a review of DLA Piper’s pro bono work.  Discussions with the Prince's Trust led them to form a partnership and to focus their work to help disadvantaged youngsters.

DLA Piper wanted to use the talents of its lawyers and staff to positively impact upon the lives of fledgling entrepreneurs to provide the best possible service to young start-up businesses. Their support involved:

  • A legal induction, detailing legal issues to be considered by a newly started business, followed by a question and answer session.
  • Regular seminars and surgeries dealing with both typical and perennial subjects from bad debts to raising capital, with individual tailored advice available thereafter.
  • Ongoing advice and guidance under a "voucher scheme" entitling each business to ongoing legal advice outside the scope of the seminars up to a limit of £200.

In the first year of operation, over 150 young people were given free legal advice and support.

Their partnership with the Prince's Trust has developed significantly over the last decade from this small pilot in Manchester. Similar schemes have been set up in London, Birmingham and Scotland, all of which continue today.

In early 2000 DLA Piper appointed a Prince's Trust Pro Bono Coordinator who was dedicated to managing and developing the partnership.  The relationship had become integrated within the business and senior management wanted to grow what was a highly regarded, sustainable asset because of the strategic and community value it provided.

With the partnership well established around the country, in 2005 DLA Piper supported the Prince’s Trust in developing a new initiative, Building Better Lives (BBL), to provide long-term employment opportunities to disadvantaged young people and at the same time address the acute shortage of labour in the construction industry. Currently, 33 construction multinationals are involved in this sector project - eg. BAA, Carillion, John Laing PLC and the Construction Skills Council. The taster course run in June 2006 in London produced a 100% retention rate, quite unprecedented in the Prince's Trust's history. The scheme will be rolled out across the UK in 2007.

Timeline

1996

DLA Piper undertakes fundamental review of pro bono activity, resulting in fresh resolve to develop the scope and scale of this work.

1997

Dialogue with the Prince's Trust commences, developing into a firm commitment to establish a formal partnership.

1998

DLA Piper and the Prince's Trust formally launch the partnership in Manchester.

Business Mentoring scheme commences. This scheme continues to be one of the flagship partnership initiatives to this day.

1999

The partnership is expanded to London, with the launch event attracting many government and corporate leaders.

2000

DLA Piper appoints a dedicated pro bono coordinator to manage the increasing levels of work from the Prince's Trust.

DLA Piper's London office hosts the inaugural "Creative Britain" event, showcasing crafts from Prince's Trust businesses. These events continue to be held annually.

2002

The partnership is expanded to Birmingham.

A series of legal seminars are hosted by DLA Piper and clients KPMG, Barclays and Ford Motor Company.

2004

Partnership rolled out to Scotland as a key community/charity partner.

2005

Building Better Lives is conceived following dialogue between the Prince's Trust and DLA Piper.

DLA Piper's London office employs a chef as part of the Prince's Trust's "Get Into Cooking" initiative.

2006

Pilot of Building Better Lives takes place in London, with a completion rate of 100% - a first for a Prince's Trust project.

2007 onwards

Anticipated roll-out of the Building Better Lives model across the UK.

Impact

  • over 1,000 young people have received over 6,000 hours of time with a market value in excess of £650,000.
  • following the Building Better Lives course in London last year,16 young people are now in full time apprenticeship and training before pursuing a full time career in the industry;
  • over the last seven years 140 fledgling entrepreneurs have been supported through “Creative Britain” events which showcase their work, hosted by DLA Piper
  • the success of their involvement with the Prince's Trust has helped DLA Piper to achieve a staff retention rate of 17.3% in the year to February 2007, compared to an average of 18.8% among Top 50 law firms;
  • the partnership has offered opportunities for DLA Piper to work with clients in ways that would not otherwise have been possible, allowing them to forge stronger relationships

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