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Community

Community engagement is central to Tanner De Witt’s spirit. We are committed to providing legal services to and supporting appropriate Hong Kong and international charities, groups and organisations that have special relevance to our team and our clients.

Recent community activity

Community presence over the years

What did we do in 2021?

As sporting activities pick back up, we are delighted to announce our support of several initiatives. Please have a look at this post to learn more and check back soon for further details!

What did we do in 2020?

2020 has had its challenges but we have not ignored the needs of those in our community and have been busy giving updates on COVID-19 in our news pages. Our Partners have also been very active in appearing in webinars organised by Hong Kong’s many Chambers of Commerce to give advice to the city’s business community in these unprecedented times. At the start of the year we were delighted to announce that three members of our team won awards in The Law Society of Hong Kong’s 2019 Pro Bono Community Service Award Presentation Ceremony, held in December 2019. Most recently our Fraud and Asset Tracing team recovered EUR100,000 for an Ireland-based charity on a pro bono basis. We also recently supported the Hong Kong & China Branch of The Royal British Legion on their annual Poppy Appeal, a cause that we have fervently contributed to every year. We continue to be in frequent contact with our supported organisations and we welcome suggestions on initiatives that would benefit from assistance; please e-mail us at [email protected] with any relevant opportunities.

What did we do in 2019?

We continued to champion causes related to pro bono work, the elderly, women, and mental health in the rugby space. We gave time to local businesses and remained staunch supporters of nurturing younger legal practitioners.

We kept up the support to the startup community by hosting our popular series of Tech Talk events and attending conferences. We donated our events space to the Canadian and Dutch Chambers of Commerce, and even participated in a plastic-free workplace challenge.

We celebrated our 20th Anniversary by sponsoring four charities that are an active, long-term presence in Hong Kong, and are well-supported in the community.

Alphabetically these are:

As we reflect on the years and changes, both at our firm and in Hong Kong at large, we have lasting joy in being able to give to organisations doing such moving work.

What did we do in 2018?

While continuing to uphold the high legal standards that we are known for, we supported an award-winning neighborhood football team, championed causes related to women and children and supported events for different sectors of the community: at-risk youth, migrant workers and their offspring and lower income households with educational needs.

We celebrated our 10th year of participating in Hong Kong Cancer Fund’s Dress Pink Day, highlighted the need for mental health support in the rugby community, and renewed our three-year HKRU referee sponsorship for another three. In between all of these, we moved into our flagship office, where we hosted several community events such as a talk on ‘sunset’ industries.

We sat on boards and gave time to the next generation by judging local legal competitions. We also went overseas to speak to members of local business communities and built connections with our homegrown start-ups.

What did we do in 2017?

While carrying out award-winning legal work, we gave time to and raised funds for a number of causes close to our hearts: we dressed in silly pink outfits to raise money for breast cancer research, ran a 10K for clean seas, and gave away mini rugby balls to inspire little players into falling in love with the game. Some of us even ran Zimbabwean marathons, joined professional table tennis tournaments, supported a charity rugby tour in the Philippines as title sponsor, and dressed as Santa in a fun run! We also raised funds for underprivileged Hong Kong children.

2017 Dress Pink Day for breast cancer research at Tanner De Witt

When we’re not doing sports or legal work, we’re attending board meetings (on TMA, IWIRC or the Dutch Chamber of Commerce), speaking at international conferences or supporting events that raise awareness for causes like mental health and school re-building.

 

From left to right: Partners Ian De Witt, Kim Boreham and Mark Side with Solicitor (and Hong Kong rugby player) Rowan Varty at the 2017 Hong Kong Rugby Sevens

More Tanner De Witt-supported causes

ESF Lions Youth Football

Tanner De Witt has been a proud sponsor of the ESF Lions Youth Football Programme which has been providing after school, girls only and academy sessions for aspiring football stars in Hong Kong for years. ESF Sports, which is a department of ESF Educational Services Ltd, nurtures local talent and provides sporting opportunities for bright young players in Hong Kong.

HKRU Domestic League Referees

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting local organisations in the region, we are delighted to announce that we are the official gold sponsor of the Hong Kong Society for Referees for the domestic rugby league since 2015. The referee is an integral part of every game in any sport; they must maintain a high level of fitness and are not always the most popular people on the pitch so their commitment to the game is particularly admirable. Furthermore the domestic rugby league of Hong Kong has gone from strength to strength in recent years and none of this is possible without the commitment of the referees and the investment by the HKRU into the referee program.

DB Run for Charity

Tanner De Witt has supported the DB 10k Run for Charity every year since 2013 with participation growing each year. We were proud to sponsor the well attended 2019 DB Run for Charity held on Saturday 7 December with six runners. More information here.

Tanner De Witt runners in 2017!

Pro-bono legal advice and fundraising

Some organisations that Tanner De Witt have supported are listed below, for more details of our involvement please visit our News and Media section. Whether providing pro-bono legal advice or sponsoring a local sports team, one can always expect high levels of enthusiasm and commitment from our lawyers and staff!

Supporting CancerFund with Dress Pink Day 2014
Supporting Breast Cancer Awareness with Dress Pink Day 2014
IMG_4433 - CWS City Challenge 2013
Supporting the City Challenge 2013

If your organisation requires our legal services or you would like to suggest a fundraising activity, please contact us.

Organisations that we support

01 Philippines Rugby Union 02 Christina Noble Foundation 03 Enlighten HK 04 ESF Lions Football 05 Childrens Thalassemia Foundation Pigs Club logo_new 08 Serge Betsen Academy Print 10 WAGS 06 Operation Breakthrough HK

Testimonial

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