Choosing kindness and changing lives: cultivating the pro bono ethos in one of Africa’s leading firms

Whether its representing cash-strapped NGOs in long-running constitutional law litigation, helping a world-renowned Olympian fight systemic prejudice on a global scale, or sitting with a villager at a rural clinic, Candice Pillay says the true measure of pro bono work isn’t the size of the case, but the difference it makes.

"Even if we change one life, we change that one family, the impact you have is as big as a strategic impact litigation case, where you might change an entire community or change law for an entire sector,” says Candice, Head of Social Impact Law at leading African firm Deneys. "You must touch the individual at that very first basic level. All our programmes are geared towards making that impact."

Over many decades and under different names, that’s what the lawyers at Deneys have been doing; a sense of service and giving back permeates the law firm. Rather than treating pro bono as something lawyers do alongside their commercial practice, the firm has embedded it across the business.

In recent years Candice has led the firm’s Social Impact Law practice, which across the Johannesburg and Cape Town offices includes fellow directors Jason Whyte and Laura Macfarlane, senior associate Nicola Irving, associates Sivuselele Manzini and Chuma Bubu, paralegals, and candidate attorneys who rotate through the team. But “the whole firm does social impact”, explains Candice.

Their work has two complementary arms. The first is access to justice, representing individuals whose rights have been infringed. Deneys and its lawyers help operate community legal clinics, partner with organisations including ProBono.org, and deliver legal education. The second arm is strategic impact litigation, pursuing cases that clarify rights, scrutinise government decisions, and contribute to the progressive development of South African law.

An example of the latter is the landmark High Court hearing in May, challenging the Department of Social Development’s 2023 directive declaring life-saving Baby Saver mechanisms as illegal, and threats to cut funding to and close organisations who use them to provide safe relinquishment. Deneys invested more than 1,600 hours of internal legal work at no cost to the applicants in the case, Baby Savers South Africa NPO and Door of Hope Children's Mission NPO.

“We believe that the true measure of our work lies not only in the outcomes we achieve for clients, but in the role we play in strengthening the social fabric of our country,” says Deneys CEO Brent Botha. “We are immensely proud of our lawyers and staff who invest their time, expertise, and compassion into this work. It is not ancillary to what we do - it is core to who we are.”

Candice and her Social Impact Law team don’t carry such responsibility alone. She connects lawyers throughout Deneys with opportunities that match their expertise and personal passions, from Directors such as David Kapelus (insurance and transport litigation) and Willem de Villiers (M&A and project finance) working on matters in the disability or arts sectors, to associates and Candidate Attorneys.

Lawyers across all practice groups contribute.

“If you’re doing what you do every day, then you’re just doing another matter where the fees are zero-rated,” says Candice, noting a great pro bono ethos resonates throughout Deneys. “Our staff must feel that we care about what they care about, and that we’re working in the communities that they come from.”

Leading a Social Impact Law team at a leading African firm is a lovely “full circle” sort of chapter in Candice’s legal career, she admits. She began her career in the human rights sector while at university. With Nelson Mandela’s release from prison leading into a new constitution and democratically elected government, it was an exciting, tumultuous time in South Africa. But also an uncertain one; and some traditional doors remained locked, including in law. Candice did her articles and began working in the insurance litigation field, stepping out of what she wanted to do in human rights and advocacy for ‘just paying the bills’ work.

When South African law societies began introducing pro bono directives around 2010, Candice was asked by her then-Chairman to create a business plan for a pro bono department at commercial firm Routledge Modise (which later joined with international firm Hogan Lovells); a very different role from being an activist or lawyer in a non-profit NGO. “For me, personally, it was kind of coming to pro bono at the right time in my career and my maturity and my growth, because prior to that I was just going to save the world with no plan,” laughs Candice.

Seventeen years later, Candice is right where she belongs, doing work she loves, bolstering Deneys long-held ethos of fighting injustice and supporting marginalised communities, and helping grow the next generation of lawyers.

"We get feedback from graduate recruitment all the time saying students have applied to Deneys because they saw we won this particular case, or did a clinic in a certain community,” says Candice. She believes the contribution of large firms to access to justice is sometimes overlooked. Deneys’ resources, specialist expertise, and ability to sustain complex litigation over many years enable them to pursue vital matters, like Baby Savers, that might otherwise never reach the courts.

“I think the legal sector have started to realise that the kind of strategic impact litigation cases that Deneys has taken on, that have been reported in the news, have only come about because we put our money where out mouth is,” says Candice. Big law firms have resources to take on cases from lower courts all the way to the Constitutional Court if necessary, over several years, and stick to it.

However, success can still ultimately be measured one client at a time.

“When a client looks at me and says ‘thank you so much, you stuck with me, walked the distance, and I wouldn’t have been able to afford this litigation’, then you know you’ve done something, really, really good,” says Candice, smiling. “Small actions mean great impact, and I’ve always said that to my team.”

One of the mottos displayed in her office is: Choose Kindness. For Candice, that’s what impact is. Choosing kindness in spite of whatever’s going on.

“We’re choosing clients and friends, we’re giving our time, giving legal knowledge, giving our empathy. Sometimes we just sit with the client and hear their story. In our team we often remind each other to choose kindness, because being a lawyer can be very demanding. Pro bono is extremely difficult. The cases we deal with can be horrific – babies thrown into toilets, people dying in hospitals, people being evicted, women being beaten up and abused, young girls being raped. It’s really traumatic. But I often say to myself, this is the idea of choosing kindness, to help when there is no one else. But you also need to be kind to yourself too.”

While you may not be able to solve all the world’s problems, says Candice, you can always just help the person sitting in front of you. It’s not always about landmark judgments or high-profile injustices. Sometimes it begins with one lawyer choosing kindness, standing beside one client, and changing one life.