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An enthusiastic team of volunteer lawyers and business services staff organised the third round of our pro bono workshop - HL BaSE Catalyst - in Italy, which took place live in our Milan office on Thursday, 11 May 2023. Our lawyers provided pro bono legal advice to four social enterprises together with experienced in-house legal counsel from corporates including Amtrust Assicurazioni, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (Italy), Italgas, Prelios SGR, SC Lowy and Terna S.p.A.
"Thank you for the precious opportunity you have offered to the Ashoka community and for the pleasant event you have organised."
Eleonora Cadone, Community Integrator – Ashoka Italia
With the support of our longstanding partner organisations Ashoka and The Human Safety Net, four social enterprise clients were selected to participate. In the first part of the half-day workshop, the social entrepreneurs presented their business models to the entire audience, before breaking up into separate group sessions to deep dive into specific legal questions they had prepared in advance. The workshop also included a joint lunch to network and exchange ideas.
The social enterprises involved covered a wide range of impact topics ranging from health to sustainable fashion and innovations in agriculture:
- Centro per la Salute del Bambino: A non-profit organisation that aims to develop and implement programmes and interventions for the health, development and well-being of children, with a focus on disadvantaged families and communities.
- Palingen: An ethical and sustainable fashion laboratory that gives disadvantaged women a second chance.
- VAZAPP: A community of professionals; an extensive network of agricultural knowledge; a place of meeting and exchange of experiences from below, created to promote cooperation and dissemination of knowledge among farmers.
- WOP Station: A social enterprise that deals with the optimisation of water resources in agriculture.
“It was an enriching experience, especially for the mix of dedication and expertise shown by both HL and the social enterprises.”
Alan Barbieri, Head of Programmes – The Human Safety Net