Elias Neocleous & Co LLC is the both the largest and the top performing law firm in Cyprus with established professional networks across the globe. However, as Managing Partner Elias Neocleous, recently commented, being a truly great firm involves recognizing that we are part of a much wider community and, that we have a Corporate Social Responsibility (‘CSR’) towards that community. We appreciate the important role we can play as market leaders in influencing our clients, our employees and by extension our communities towards supporting the less fortunate. The Covid pandemic has increased the importance of firms such as ours fulfilling their CSR promises. In October, therefore, we chose to make our firm’s ‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ campaign one of our biggest CSR events to date. Additionally, to stress the importance of CSR to all colleagues, it was fully supported by our Managing Partner and led by our newest colleagues, our trainees. Their initiative formed part of their training and education at Elias Neocleous & Co LLC.
CAMPAIGN GOALS
Our ultimate objectives were to raise general awareness about breast cancer, including prevention, signs, symptoms and treatment amongst our people, and to fundraise for Europa Donna Cyprus. Europa Donna is a European non-profit organisation with branches in 46 countries. Europa Donna Cyprus has supported cancer patients for over 16 years with activities focused on the dissemination of information, the need for research, and most importantly for us as a law firm, on advocating for patients’ rights.
PARTICULARS
It was important to the firm and our trainees that the campaign be informative, inclusive and engaging. Throughout October we maximized publicity by promoting our campaign heavily on our social media platforms. Alongside this, a series of events were planned and executed in all our offices, and for the people working from home, which aimed to encourage people to donate whilst competing in various activities. We also shared with our colleagues important educational information regarding statistics of breast cancer, myths about breast cancer, a manual for self-examination as well as links regarding breast cancer prevention and mental health support for patients and their families.
An important international symbol of Breast Cancer Awareness Month is wearing a pink ribbon. Our trainees took this one step further by creating the pink ribbons themselves, wearing them throughout October and distributing them to their colleagues across every office in return for a donation. They also engaged the competitive streak within the firm by setting two ‘Covid safe’ online competitions which all could enter for a small fee. The first involved guessing the number of sweets in a jar of candy with a prize for the winner being a 20 Euro Amazon Voucher. The second revolved around ‘spotting the differences’ between two similar photos taken in the office of the Managing Partner. A Limassol office winner could claim the prestigious prize of an allocated parking spot, reserved for a whole month, whilst those based elsewhere could opt for a 10 Euro Amazon Voucher.
On 30 October, to celebrate the end of a wonderful campaign, all our employees were asked to wear pink attire to work. A slight concession was made for our litigation team who must adhere to strict litigation court rules regarding their attire, they fulfilled the requirement if they wore their pink ribbon. People failing to adhere to the day’s dress code quickly found themselves tackled by our ‘pink unit’ which fined them with EUR 1 towards fundraising.
CONCLUSION
We would like to congratulate our trainees on organizing an extremely successful campaign and one which our colleagues are inspired to repeat in future years. Thanks to their efforts Elias Neocleous & Co LLC, has set an example that its CSR policy is not a token document but a core part of its business development. Our colleague’s morale was boosted by the thrill of participating in the activities arranged, whilst being able to donate over a coffee-break. Our clients were inspired by our social media campaign and motivated to ask us about ways to donate. Importantly the campaign spread awareness to our colleagues and communities and, an impressive sum of over EUR 700 was raised to be donated to Europa Donna Cyprus.
For more information please contact Christina Anastasiou at Elias Neocleous & Co LLC.
The Europa Donna Cyprus website may be accessed here.
