Dear friends,

As 2024 draws to a close, in the context of multiple escalating conflicts and converging global crises, looking back at the year can inspire a mix of feelings. For us at TrustLaw, one sentiment endures: a deep sense of gratitude for your partnership and support. It is you, our global community, that makes everything we do possible, ultimately enabling us to achieve our goal of scaling access to legal support for organizations in need. And, for that, we are profoundly grateful. 

It has been a remarkable year. Our network has come together to tackle critical social and environmental issues, contributing to tangible impact in outlawing child marriage in Colombia, championing the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace, supporting community efforts towards environmental restoration and health, empowering Asia’s rainbow families, protecting media freedom through legislative reform, and so much more. 

To ground this work, this year we continued our efforts to foster best practice in pro bono across the world and support our legal partners to strengthen their pro bono programs. A highlight was the launch of our Measuring Pro Bono Impact Guide and accompanying workshop series. By helping legal teams to more effectively measure the impact of their pro bono programs and improve legal services delivery, they will better meet client needs and maximize their contributions to social change.  

In the face of global crackdowns on civic space, we have also deepened our work to build a more resilient civil society, by strengthening their overall legal health and enhancing their ability to tackle emerging legal issues. For example, we are increasingly helping civil society organizations worldwide navigate new ‘foreign influence’ laws, which are threatening their sustainability by making it extremely burdensome for them to receive foreign funding.   

Finally, we spent the year developing innovative programming that responds to the critical needs of our stakeholders. For example, we officially launched the Legal Service for Independent Media (LSIM) in response to learning that nearly 50% of journalists we surveyed in 2023 had experienced legal threats due to their public interest reporting. LSIM provides a range of free legal services for independent media to better protect their truth-telling. This includes supporting organisations such as InSight Crime and Women’s Voices Now with legal issues arising from their day-to-day operations, and developing capacity-building tools such as our Know Your Rights Guide to Legal Rights in the US, co-published with the Committee to Protect Journalists to mitigate legal risks for journalists reporting on elections. 

As we turn our attention to 2025 and navigate the outcomes of a ‘super election’ year, the AI revolution, and so much more, our commitment to delivering the quality service you expect of us remains paramount. We look forward to working closely with you all to tackle the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.  

Thank you again. Wishing you all the very best of the festive season and a safe, healthy and prosperous New Year.  

Carolina Henriquez-Schmitz

Director of TrustLaw, Thomson Reuters Foundation