Social Impact Awards 2025 expanded to reflect legal innovation

The 2025 Social Impact EMEA Awards, hosted by Legal Benchmarking Group, remain open for submissions with new categories introduced to reflect the evolving priorities of the legal industry.

Now entering its second year, the awards celebrate the most innovative, inclusive, and responsible legal work taking place across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

For the 2025 edition, the programme has introduced a set of new and expanded categories designed to better capture the full spectrum of law firms' social responsibility efforts and the growing importance of purpose-driven legal practice.

The latest awards guidelines, available here, outline several new categories that reflect shifting priorities across the EMEA legal sector. These additions represent a more inclusive and forward-thinking vision of what social impact looks like in practice.

Key new categories include:

This category honours legal teams that are guiding clients or internal operations through responsible, transparent, and rights-based approaches to artificial intelligence development and deployment.

Recognises legal work that protects vulnerable communities disproportionately affected by climate change, including litigation, policy reform, and cross-sector partnerships.

Celebrates the firms delivering standout counsel in environmental, social, and governance matters, with a focus on innovation, regulatory alignment, and sustainable client solutions.

Acknowledges initiatives that have created lasting, measurable benefits for local communities — from legal education and outreach to housing, health, and social equity programmes.

Recognises firms that have implemented bold, effective, and scalable approaches to support the psychological health and emotional wellbeing of legal professionals.

Honours efforts that address legal issues affecting multiple age groups, from youth justice and education access to elder law, workplace equity, and intergenerational rights.

Each new category aims to capture the evolving pressures and opportunities law firms face today — from advancing equity in legal systems, to helping clients align with ESG regulations, to investing in internal culture change.

As global markets increasingly hold institutions accountable for their societal impact, these awards look to honour those who respond to a rising demand for transparency, accountability, and sustainable progress.

We welcome submissions from private practice law firms, in-house legal teams, and legal networks across the EMEA region. The extended deadline to submit is July 25 2025.

If you have any questions regarding the Legal Benchmarking Group Social Impact Awards, please contact Shailyn Tirado at socialimpact@legalbenchmarkinggroup.com

Please note that the Legal Benchmarking Group Social Impact Awards is supported by MIP but run independently to the IP STARS research.