The largest Czech-Slovak law firm HAVEL & PARTNERS presented a cheque worth CZK 100,000 to Bílý kruh bezpečí, a non-profit organisation, at the Lawyer of the Year 2017 Awards ceremony. The organisation has been providing professional and discreet assistance free of charge to victims of crime for as long as 26 years. Bílý kruh bezpečí will use the donated funds for direct monetary assistance to the victims and/or their survivors.
“We have been handing over the charity cheque at the Lawyer of the Year event traditionally every year; last year we supported the endowment fund AutTalk helping parents to take care of their children with autism, and the year before that we helped the Our Child Foundation. This year we decided to provide funding to Bílý kruh bezpečí because it is a highly respectable organisation that has been supporting victims of crime and their surviving relatives and victims of domestic violence for a number of years. The organisation also directs a considerable amount of its effort to the prevention of conflicts with possible criminal law implications,” says Jaroslav Havel, managing partner of the law firm, commenting on its support to Bílý kruh bezpečí. “As part of our work we often represent victims of crime that are under the care of Bílý kruh bezpečí, so we can see how crucial the foundation’s support is in such extremely difficult circumstances,” adds Filip Seifert, of law firm SEIFERT A PARTNEŘI, which is an exclusive partner of HAVEL & PARTNERS in the area of criminal law.
“We highly appreciate this support, and we will use it as financial support provided directly to the victims in need or to their survivors,” says Petra Vitoušová, the founder and manager of Bílý kruh bezpečí. “I would like to point out that František Korbel, a partner of the law firm, previously held the position of the deputy minister at the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic and in 2013 received an honourable mention for his personal commitment in pushing through the bill for victims of crime, which has considerably enhanced the position of victims in criminal proceedings,” says Vitoušová.
The law firm provides direct funding to charitable foundations and projects, including e.g. Our Child Foundation, the Světluška collection of the Czech Radio Foundation, Via foundation, Dejme dětem šanci, Dobrý anděl, Debt Advisory Centre – Counselling in Stringency and the already mentioned AutTalk endowment fund last year, and also focuses on pro bono legal advisory, i.e. legal services provided free of charge.
As part of its pro bono legal advisory, the law firm supports the Prague ZOO;, Children’s Crisis Centre, Taťána Kuchařová’s foundation called the Beauty of Help; the Světluška collection of the Czech Radio Foundation; the Registered Social Responsibility Institute, whose aim is to protect minors from addictive substances; and the Association for the Defence of Unjustly Prosecuted Persons, among others.
As part of its CSR activities, HAVEL & PARTNERS also supports the involvement of employees as volunteers, who take part in charity runs and sales, provide advisory to children from children’s homes, organise charitable breakfasts or collections, etc. The law firm also engages various charitable organisations and sheltered workshops as its regular suppliers of goods and services.
