Over the last year, Dentons’ Of Counsel Jenny Zhuang and her team have been working pro bono for r é n, handling all our legal matters related to employment for our youths, and we’re immensely grateful for their contributions to our cause.

Jenny first met our founder, Jo Soo Tang, through a client of hers, and once she learned of r é n’s mission, she knew the charity would be a good fit for Dentons’ pro bono initiative. The law firm had long been providing free legal consultations through the Law Society (and they’re the only international firm to do so), but pro bono work had started just five years ago.

“At this firm, we have a pro bono committee that comprises half a dozen people, and together we decide what kind of clients we want to do pro bono work for” Jenny explains. “It’s a collaborative effort, and we’re quite picky about the pro bono clients we want to onboard. It’s because we can’t possibly help everyone, and the idea is that for the organisations we do help, we want to commit long-term and have deep, meaningful relationships with those organisations. r é n is one of them.”

Most of Jenny and her team’s work consists of planning and constructing employment contracts for the underprivileged and disadvantaged youths that we place at various restaurants, clubhouses, cafes and more. Despite the workload, Jenny says the partnership with r é n has also given her the opportunity to expand her skillset and learn to address questions she’s seldom had to face before. 

“My speciality is employment law, and because r é n is mainly acting as an employment agency that places young adults into the workforce, we’ve had to figure out how to structure that contractual relationship with some of r é n’s partners,” she explains. “It’s not the typical kind of contractual work that I’ve seen and done before, so my team and I have really had to put our thinking hats on, drafting things from scratch – there’s no template! So it’s been exciting, it’s been interesting, and I’m learning a lot too.”

Though Dentons has only been working pro bono for select clients for five years, it’s a cause that Jenny has championed since joining the firm six years ago, and one she continues to feel deeply passionate about.

“I think this work feeds the soul, because a lot of what we do in the corporate legal world is about money,” she says. “We don’t do things like matrimonial or criminal at this firm, so we’re always arguing about money – there’s no emotive element. We fight about money all day, so I think it’s quite a nice food source for the soul when we work pro bono for causes such as r é n’s, where you feel like you are genuinely helping people and you’re actually making a difference.

“And I think if Jo doesn’t do this, then no one will,” she adds. “Then you’re going to end up with all these young adults who are employable but don’t have the skills or confidence to go out into the workforce. r é n is great because they focus on training these kids first and then integrate them into the workforce slowly. You’re not just throwing them in the deep end. A lot of these young adults need help and training, so I think what Jo and r é n are doing is really meaningful.”