United Kingdom

RE:ACT Disaster Response

RE:ACT Disaster Response is a humanitarian charity that provides direct action in emergencies and crises, operating in the UK and overseas. RE:ACT serves the most vulnerable people in need by deploying highly trained RE:ACT Response Teams. These teams are built by repurposing the hard-earned skills and experience of military veterans and turning them into exceptionally agile and resilient humanitarians, capable of rapidly deploying when people need immediate and urgent relief.

As the UK went into lockdown in 2020, RE:ACT Responders mobilized to work in tandem with government authorities, the voluntary sector, and the Army, helping to protect lives and bolster under pressure frontline services. During its COVID operation, RE:ACT has supported PPE distribution, hospital ICU wards, mortuaries, NHS mass vaccination centers, community surge testing, and emergency food distribution.

Sidley helped RE:ACT with complex legal and practical issues, enabling it to remain operational during a vital period. In particular, Sidley lawyers from London and New York helped RE:ACT reach an extremely favorable settlement relating to an injunction, enabling operatives to perform crucial emergency tasks.‍

“Sidley Austin LLP has played a crucial part in sustaining the operational capability of RE:ACT Disaster Response. We have been guided through some highly contentious relationships which threatened our existence and which we would have been unable to address without Sidley’s expertise. They have ensured a fair outcome and, at a time when we have been deeply involved in the operational response to COVID-19 have ensured that a lifesaving voluntary capability has continued to thrive. Our relationship has been one of the mainstays of the charity’s success.”

— General Sir Nick Parker (KCB, CBE), Chair of RE:ACT Disaster Response

Small Steps

In 2020, the London Real Estate team acted for a longstanding client, Small Steps SFP, in the acquisition and development of a property. Small Steps is a charity that provides free-of-charge classes and support to parents with physically disabled children from birth to five years.

The building has been developed specifically to enable Small Steps to provide classes to the children and their parents and has provided a permanent home to enable the charity to continue.

“Firstly, on the building. Small Steps has been gifted the most magnificent thing! A building of its very own. Everyone says that this sort of thing doesn’t happen and I have no doubt that this is the case. Unusually though, for whatever reason, it has happened to Small Steps ... Secondly, on the pro bono support provided by Sidley. Similarly we are thrilled, delighted, pleased and SO, SO FORTUNATE to have had the insight, guidance, knowledge, know-how, clarity of thought and absolute professionalism provided by Jade and colleagues over the years. We have no idea where Small Steps would have been without her individually and the pro bono support in itself.”  

— Anita Coppola MBE, Head of Small Steps

Children with Disabilities

DISABILITY REPRESENTATION

During 2020, our lawyers obtained an additional 208 hours of care per week for families with disabled children through our involvement in LawWorks and Together for Short Lives’ Voices for Families project.

Working with Together for Short Lives, a UK-registered charity, Sidley helped obtain a successful outcome for a single mother with a disabled 18-month-old child. As a result of this assistance, the woman was provided with nursing care and nursing support seven nights a week, enabling her son to be discharged from the hospital and to return home to her and attend nursery school.

Disability Benefits

DISABILITY REPRESENTATION

During 2020, our lawyers recorded a 100% success rate in our representation of multiple clients in the Social Security Tribunal. At a time when poverty is increasing, people with a disability face many additional costs and higher unemployment rates. Personal Independence Payments can be a lifeline to the people that we assist through this project. The Sidley team comprises lawyers from across nearly all practice area teams in our London office.

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) UK

KIND UK is a collaboration between four UK-based nonprofit organizations that specialize in children’s immigration and asylum law. KIND UK partners with Kids in Need of Defense in the United States, the leading national organization advocating for the rights of unaccompanied migrant and refugee children in the country. In 2020, Sidley London launched a partnership with KIND UK to provide advice and support to children and their families with uncertain or undocumented immigration status. Working closely with the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, our lawyers help children to apply for British citizenship and be granted their full legal rights.

"We are delighted to have partnered with KIND UK in the provision of pro bono advice to children in their applications for British citizenship. There are many thousands of undocumented children living in the UK, many of whom know no other country as their home. We have a number of active cases already and we are starting to make a difference to the future of the children and their families."

— Sidley Partner Jade Williams-Adedeji

Bloomberg Partnership

A London team acted alongside co-counsel from Bloomberg’s Legal and Compliance Department to support the Fair Education Alliance (FEA), which is a coalition of over 200 organizations aiming to tackle inequality in the education system. The FEA required advice on preparing grant award documentation for its “Scaling Award” and inaugural “Intrapreneurship Award.”