In-house counsel Roy Birnbaum and Merck & Co. Inc. have been working for five years to increase pro bono efforts among the 70 Merck lawyers who work outside the United States.

And Thursday their endeavors paid off when Merck was named in-house legal team of the year at the annual TrustLaw Awards ceremony, which recognizes outstanding pro bono work.

Merck beat out three other nominated legal departments—at Intel Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise—for the award.

Sponsored by the Thompson Reuters Foundation, TrustLaw honored Merck for a variety of projects. Birnbaum, counsel for the company's international legal affairs and compliance outside the United States, said Merck has one of the oldest corporate pro bono programs in the nation, going back nearly 23 years.

“Our international activity is still growing,” Birnbaum said, “and the number of pro bono hours is not the same as what they are in the U.S.” He said Merck attorneys averaged around 150 to 200 pro bono hours last year outside the country.

Pro bono work is not as common in other countries, Birnbaum explained, although that is starting to change. He said about half of Merck's lawyers outside the United States took part in volunteer pro bono efforts in the past year, mainly working on nonlitigation matters.

They primarily performed corporate, transactional and other advisory work for nongovernment entities that work to improve communities.

“For example, we did work for an organization in Ireland that helps survivors of childhood polio,” Birnbaum said.

He said to facilitate their work, the group needed to change their corporate structure. So Merck lawyers “helped them reorganize under the corporate laws of Ireland,” he said.

In Argentina, Birnbaum said Merck lawyers helped an NGO that offers activities for needy youth resolve contract and employment law issues in a consulting agreement. They also worked with an NGO in China to organize under Chinese corporate law and to form agreements with its inter-company affiliates located in other countries.

The pro bono lawyers also aided a Hong Kong NGO in shaping an agreement with an Australian supplier to install water fountains around the city to minimize the use of disposable water bottles.

Birnbaum said Merck collaborates with outside counsel in other countries to work around various regulatory and licensing requirements. “Pro bono is a criteria in our selection of law firms for our preferred provider list,” he said. “Most law firms are usually happy to work with us.”

He also praised the efforts of TrustLaw, which acts as a clearinghouse and intermediary between needy clients and pro bono volunteers. TrustLaw also screens the clients, he said, to define the legal problem and to ensure that they are performing a social mission that couldn't be done without adequate legal services that they couldn't afford.

TrustLaw has launched a global corporate pro bono initiative to encourage more corporate counsel to participate. The group develops tools that help legal departments set up their pro bono programs, navigate regulatory and licensing requirements, and collaborate with law firms on worthy projects.

Birnbaum said TrustLaw has also broadened its research activities, publishes a map that summarizes the local practice and regulatory requirements in jurisdictions around the world, and provides legal training in areas of interest to pro bono lawyers both in-house and at law firms.