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Via its Corporate Citizenship area – the second of the firm’s social ecosystem pillars – Mattos Filho carries out activities and supports initiatives that make a positive impact on society, aiming to promote human rights, diversity and inclusion, volunteering and preservation of the environment.

2019 and 2020 saw consolidation and strengthening within the area. With an expanded and fully dedicated team, in December 2019 the Corporate Citizenship area came under the wing of the Human Development directorate. This was an important step in institutionalizing diversity and inclusion guidelines in the processes for recruitment and selection, as well as for evaluating performance and development, resulting in a strengthened organizational culture that favors diversity and respect for difference.

“People management is central to Mattos Filho, as our professional service depends directly on our talents,” said the director of Human Development, Renata Maiorino. “We are constantly focused on nurturing an environment of opportunity that engages our professionals in building promising and meaningful careers,” she added.

One of the Corporate Citizenship area’s main activities involves its Diversity and Inclusion program, which aims to provide an inclusive, equal opportunity work environment that is increasingly welcoming to all professionals. The firm also seeks to inspire the legal market, clients, partners, suppliers and other companies to follow suit, thus extending its impact across society.

The Mattos Filho Diversity and Inclusion program is based on five different pillars, each of which is associated with their respective affinity groups. The 4Women and EmFamília groups are aligned with the pillar of gender equity; Mfriendly with LGBTQIAP+ rights, EmFrente with the rights of people with disabilities; Soma with the pillar of racial equity; and Lire, with religious freedom. By the end of 2020, 912 – or 65% – of the firm’s staff were actively participating in these six groups.

Renata Maiorino

People management is central to Mattos Filho, as our professional service depends directly on our talents.”

Renata Maiorino,director of Human development

One of the milestones for Soma in 2019 was the creation of its Soma Talentos program, an affirmative action initiative targeting self-declared black students in their first two years of law school. The initiative seeks to further racial diversity in the Brazilian legal sector, where only 2% of lawyers identify as black, according to a census conducted by the Legal Alliance for Racial Equality in 2018.

“In 2019, we continued developing the pillars of religious freedom and rights of people with disabilities. We also refocused our energies on gender equity, reformulating 4Women with a stronger focus on the professional development of women while creating EmFamília in 2020, which seeks to promote a culture of parenting in the firm,” said Corporate Citizenship manager Laura Mattar.

Looking towards the future, the Diversity and Inclusion Commission was established in 2020, bringing representatives of the affinity groups together with professionals from the Human Development, Corporate Citizenship, Communication and Marketing, and Mattos Filho 100% Pro Bono areas. The purpose of the commission is to improve Mattos Filho’s strategic performance in these areas further still, by planning and proposing actions that take intersectionality into account while contributing to attracting new talents and allies.

For its pioneering work in equal opportunities and rights and in fighting against prejudice and discrimination, Mattos Filho is regarded not only as a reference in the field of law but also among corporations in sectors such as infrastructure and energy, services, technology and financial markets.

In 2019, thirty different companies sought out Mattos Filho to learn more about its Diversity and Inclusion program, with this number rising to forty-five in 2020. Moreover, those professionals engaged in Mattos Filho’s affinity groups regularly participated in external events, sharing their experiences at Mattos Filho while spreading awareness of the program.

For Laura Mattar, another major highlight was the progress of volunteer program Mova, which promotes initiatives in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília. This is done in collaboration with various civil society groups operating in support of women, the LGBTQIAP+ population, people with disabilities, people in situations of homelessness and the elderly. On an educational front, Mova conducts in-person initiatives at the Lasar Segall State School in São Paulo, adopted by the firm in partnership with the non-profit organization Parceiros da Educação (‘Partners for Education’).

“We launched Mova in 2019, and soon after we had to transfer activities to digital platforms due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite that, we still managed to take a huge step forward, expanding our activities and the number of causes that we are involved with,” she added.

In the two years since Mova was established, fifty-seven different initiatives have been conducted with partner organizations – forty in 2019 and a further seventeen by way of digital formats in 2020 – with professionals from across the firm putting in a total of more than 2,600 volunteer hours.

Laura Mattar

In 2019, we continued developing the pillars of religious freedom and rights of people with disabilities. We also refocused our energies on gender equity, reformulating 4Women with a stronger focus on the professional development of women while creating EmFamília in 2020, which seeks to promote a culture of parenting in the firm.”

Laura Mattar,Corporate citizenship manager

Affinity GroupsMain activities – 2019 & 2020

As part of its social DNA, Mattos Filho strives to promote an increasingly inclusive and welcoming corporate environment, with equal opportunity for everyone. By way of its affinity groups, the firm works in accordance with the five pillars of its Diversity and Inclusion program – gender equity, LGBTQIAP+ rights, racial equity, the rights of people with disabilities and religious freedom.

Mova Innovative, community-based volunteering

Aware of its professionals’ willingness to participate in innovative volunteering projects, in 2019 Mattos Filho launched Mova, its volunteering program. Through its actions, the group seeks to create connections with local communities, involving all of Mattos Filho’s offices both in Brazil and abroad.

“It’s what we always say – ‘through our work, we look to give back to society for all that it has given us.’ Many professionals seek out Mattos Filho because of our various diversity groups and Mova. Our clients also understand and value the importance this has for society as a whole,” explained Adriana Simões, a partner in Mattos Filho’s Aviation area and a sponsor of Mova.

The group works on projects addressing a broad spectrum of issues related to women, the LGBTQIAP+ population, people with disabilities and in situations of homelessness, the elderly, children and adolescents. The program also works in collaboration with twelve different partner organizations that operate in these areas. “I am extremely proud to say that we have an engaged volunteer group at the firm, which is involved in both the planning and execution of these projects,” said events analyst Thays Siqueira. In 2019 and 2020 alone, over 2,600 hours were dedicated to volunteering across fifty-seven different initiatives.

Instituto Reciclar – one of the program’s partner organizations – prepares young students from the neighborhood of Jaguaré (São Paulo) to enter the job market. As well as offering scholarships for leading technical schools, the institute monitors students’ development for three years.

Adriana Simões

Many professionals seek out Mattos Filho because of our various diversity groups and Mova. Our clients also understand and value the importance this has for society as a whole.”

Adriana Simões,Mattos Filho partner and Mova sponsor

Since the beginning of 2020, ten Mattos Filho volunteers have also been contributing to Instituto Reciclar’s activities as mentors. This mentoring involves professionals from different areas of the firm, over a 14-month period. For Instituto Reciclar’s executive director Carlos Henrique de Lima, “it is a form of mentoring that does not aim at developing technical skills. Based on their professional experience, the mentors give guidance on self-improvement and the types of challenges the students will face, irrespective of their area of focus.”

To maximize the success of this initiative, volunteers undergo prior training, and connections between a mentor and a mentee are established through a platform that considers both of their values and ways of thinking. According to Carlos Henrique, this mentoring is very well received by Instituto Reciclar’s students: “They are aware that mentoring presents an experience that neither their technical courses nor Instituto Reciclar would be able to offer – real professional and practical experience.”

In regard to children and adolescents, Mova volunteers have promoted a series of dynamic activities and debates on ethics at Centro de Ensino Fundamental 103 Sul, an elementary school in Brasilia. This has been conducted in collaboration with Junior Achievement – one of the world’s largest non-government organizations serving young people.

Mova also carries out periodic fundraising campaigns for people in situations of homelessness. Together with non-profit organizations – for example, Projeto Ruas in Rio de Janeiro – essential items such as warm clothing, food and hygiene kits are distributed to people on the streets.

In collaboration with Derdic in 2019, Mattos Filho participated in the Desengaveta campaign, in which the firm’s professionals donated business attire to a bazaar run by the institution. The money generated from the clothing sales was used for necessary renovations to the façade of the institution’s building.

Focusing on the elderly, Mova has a partnership with Instituto Flor Gentil, an organization that takes flowers from events that would otherwise be discarded and reuses them in new arrangements. In November 2019, thirty-seven volunteers participated in arranging flowers and delivering them to a retirement home in Vila Mariana (São Paulo). Together with Casa do Candago, a philanthropic institution in Brasilia, Mova promotes parties for the elderly, as well as a Christmas lunch and Festa Junina celebrations.

With the pandemic in full swing during 2020, Mova had to reinvent itself and thus became Mova Digital, carrying out distance-based volunteer work via the internet. Though it seemed somewhat limiting at first, this change ended up allowing for the scope of Mova’s activities to be expanded, being able to contribute to organizations outside of cities where volunteers reside.

Partner school exceeds targets in national assessment

Through its relationship with Parceiros de Educação (‘Partners in Education’), Mattos Filho sponsors Escola Estadual Lasar Segall, a public school in Vila Mariana, São Paulo with 328 students from year six to year nine. The firm offers financial support to the school and carries out volunteering initiatives to contribute to students’ learning and overall development.

Positive results have already been reflected in performance evaluations. In the 2019 Basic Education Development Index (Ideb), the school outperformed its target score of 5.5, reaching a score of 6.6, the best of any public school in the city of São Paulo. Ideb was created in 2007 to measure the quality of learning throughout Brazil and to set targets for improving education.

“Mattos Filho’s investment in the school has influenced this positive result, which indicates to us that the partnership is working very well. Escola Estadual Lasar Segall has shown remarkable growth,” said Juliana Malta, a facilitator of partnerships with Parceiros da Educação.

In 2019, over 170 Mova volunteers worked over two days to renovate the school’s reading room, reorganizing the entire library and donating 168 books. The area was also painted with decorative graffiti and refurbished with new furniture.

These volunteers also held meetings with the school’s year nine students, to talk about the UN’s seventeen sustainable development goals for its 2030 Agenda. This involved over forty of Mattos Filho’s professionals. Another important initiative consisted of lectures on cyberbullying and cybercrime for both the teachers and students.

Meanwhile, the students’ parents were invited to a discussion on the topic of labor law. “The firm’s volunteer work has benefitted the entire school community – students, teachers and also family members,” Juliana Malta highlighted.

Professionals from Mattos Filho’s São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, New York and London offices all contributed to the Carta & Livro project. During the second half of 2019, each volunteer began exchanging letters with one of thirty-seven year six students at the school. At the end of the initiative, they all met in person and presented the students with books.

For Juliana Malta, “it was a really exciting initiative that encouraged students to read and write. The whole process was followed by the Portuguese teacher, who noticed some very positive results.”

From a teaching perspective, the firm invested in developing school subjects and in courses for the teachers and school administrators. 2019 also saw the creation and implementation of a recovery program for students who start to fall behind academically. This partnership will continue to at least 2023.

From sports to the arts, Mattos Filho supports social impact initiatives

Mattos Filho also values and encourages projects with proven social impact, allocating funding via tax incentive laws. Between 2019 and 2020, the firm supported twenty different initiatives across areas including culture, health, education and citizenship.

Named after its founder – a swimmer and Olympic medalist – Instituto Cesar Cielo is involved in developing and promoting swimming in Brazil. The firm has now been supporting this organization for five years, which is based in Santa Barbara d’Oeste, a city in the interior of the state of São Paulo. Instituto Cesar Cielo also runs activities in Valinhos (São Paulo) and has a training center for competitions in Itajaí (Santa Catarina).

The institute admits students from Brazilian public schools and focuses on harnessing sport as a tool for upward mobility. “With Mattos Filho’s support, we have been able to take these children to competitions, which are important for seeking out academic scholarships. We have three athletes who even went to universities in the USA,” said Cesar Cielo. As a condition of taking part in the institute’s programs, the participants’ school attendance and academic performance are monitored.

Mattos Filho also supports the Associação Desportiva para Deficientes Físicos (‘Sports Association for People with Disabilities’) in a project that trains Paralympic teams in five disciplines, while working to further social inclusion of young people with disabilities through sport.

In the world of culture, Mattos Filho has sponsored both an exhibition by the artists known as OSGEMEOS and the 2020 season of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. It is also supporting the renovation of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro – tragically gutted by fire in 2018 – and the construction of the Jewish Museum of São Paulo. Other institutions also count on the firm’s support, including the São Paulo Museum of Art (Masp).

EmFrente members after attending a basketball match of the Association of Sport for Disabled Persons (ADD), São Paulo, 2019

EmFrente members after attending a basketball match of the Association of Sport for Disabled Persons (ADD), São Paulo, 2019

Commitment to our planet

Mattos Filho continues striving to reduce the environmental impact of its activities. In 2020, by joining the United Nations’ Our Only Future – Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign, the firm signed a commitment to eliminate or offset its carbon emissions by 2050. The campaign’s goal is for private institutions to take steps to limit the global temperature rise to a maximum of 1.5°C by 2050.

“It’s a target that reflects the ambition of our social DNA. Despite being thirty years away, we are already talking about eliminating or offsetting the carbon footprint of the firm, as well as of its professionals and suppliers,” explained Corporate Citizenship Manager, Laura Mattar.

Mattos Filho is also part of the Compromisso com o Clima (‘Commitment to Climate’) program, a national initiative for developing a low-carbon economy in Brazil, as well as for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. Together with other large companies, including B3, Instituto Ekos Brasil, Itaú Unibanco, Lojas Renner, MRV, Natura and RaiaDrogasil, the firm makes its contribution to the program by conducting legal assessments for projects that seek to reduce carbon emissions while creating positive social and environmental impact.

In 2021, Mattos Filho will carry out a diagnostic analysis of the firm’s carbon emissions during 2019 and 2020. In accordance with the eventual results, Mattos Filho intends to offset emissions and expand its actions in this area.

Mattos Filho invests in initiatives that look to further the environmental awareness of its professionals. The development of the activities of the Menos é Mais (‘Less is More’) group got underway in the second half of 2019, which aims to promote a more conscious consumption of natural resources and reduce the environmental impact of the firm’s regular activities.

One of the initiatives has led to the elimination of single-use disposable products in the firm’s eating areas. By the end of 2019, Mattos Filho avoided having to dispose of 3,000 plastic bottles, which take approximately 200 years to decompose. The firm’s Brasilia office also achieved energy savings equivalent to three years of energy consumption.

With 2020 being marked by the global pandemic and remote work, the firm saw a significant reduction in its environmental impact. One of the starkest examples relates to the reduction of carbon emissions linked to air travel – the firm’s domestic and international business trip numbers fell by more than 440% (940 in 2020, as compared to 5,083 in 2019).

Affinity groups

912
professionals are active among Mattos Filho’s six affinity groups
Equivalent to
65
%
of the firm’s professional staff
Events held
31
in 2019
45
in 2020
An increase of
45
%

Mova

2019
40
actions
1,716
hours dedicated to volunteering
329
active volunteers
2020*
17
actions
936
hours dedicated to volunteering
218
active volunteers
*Program adapted to a digital format due to the Covid-19 pandemic