Law firm Hedman Partner has been advising Estonian NGO Uuskasutuskeskus (Re-Use Centre) on employment and labour law issues to help the NGO revise its employment contracts with their staff. Katriin Jüriska, CEO of Uuskasutuskeskus, said that their organisation has been expanding their activities very successfully to include five re-use shops in Tallinn, Tartu and Pärnu. “We had to rely on external professional advice to manage employment risks during the expansion phase and also to ensure full compliance with the latest employment and labour law changes,” noted Jüriska.
Hedman Partners’ managing partner Merlin Salvik said that social responsibility is an integral part of the law firm’s corporate philosophy. “We are happy to invest our time and know-how to help charity organisations and NGOs, because a third sector based on a solid and transparent foundation is a great asset to the society,” added Salvik.
According to a cooperation agreement between the Good Deed Foundation and the Estonian Bar Association, Estonia’s leading law firms are providing more and more pro bono legal advice to third sector organisations, because most NGOs lack the means to bring their activities to compliance with all the latest legal acts on their own.
Hedman Partners is an international law firm in Tallinn with a strong focus on corporate law, intellectual property rights and international mergers and acquisitions. Hedman Partners has advised NGO Saagu Valgus (Let There Be Light) on concluding an unprecedented franchise agreement in the third sector. Hedman Partners has also assisted NGO Anni Akadeemia, which aims to help children with development disabilities.
The non-profit organisation Uuskasutus is an independent social undertaking established in 2004 by the Good Deed Foundation. Its objective is to put used things back in circulation and to make re-use and re-design easily accessible and commonplace for everyone in Estonia. For that they have close co-operation with the Estonian Association of Families with Many Children, the Dharma Foundation, shelters, fire victims and the social departments of many local authorities.
Good Deed Foundation is the only venture philanthropy organisation in the Baltics, concentrating on supporting high-impact social initiatives (both social enterprises and non-profits). The foundation’s achievements include both achieving systemic change (state-level adoption support system for children without parental care) and starting off successful social enterprises (in the fields of: employment for people with disabilities; HIV-prevention; re-use). The organisation’s portfolio includes such spin-offs as Youth to School program to solve educational problems, Health Estonia Foundation for HIV-prevention and the Re-use Center to promote sustainable consumption.
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