PAGE 3 Local legal aid pledgers continued to work directly with displaced communities(1) to identify and respond to their legal needs, working in agile ways to develop new methods of delivering essential legal services in the midst of the pandemic. Local legal aid providers, often working in partnership with private sector actors that joined the Pledge, established and scaled remote legal counseling sessions across various online platforms, and set up and expanded hotline and other telephone services, to reach those in need of legal assistance. Local legal aid providers continued to be the backbone of the legal assistance ecosystem, providing countless hours of free specialized legal assistance for refugees and others forcibly displaced. Within this context, the private sector was mobilized in an unprecedented way to contribute additional legal resources to help address the access-to-justice gap for refugees and others forcibly displaced. In 2020, the private sector reported providing over 164,294 pro bono hours(2) in fulfillment of its GRF pro bono commitment, surpassing the number of hours pledged at the GRF by over 30%. Private sector signatories also utilized their extensive networks to raise awareness about refugee and statelessness issues within their own staff, with their clients, with government actors, and other stakeholders, as well as to providing valuable financial support to local legal aid actors and to law students with displacement backgrounds. © European Lawyers in Lesvos © European Lawyers Lesvos (1) The Pledge uses the language: “refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless persons, and other forcibly displaced persons” - it in was designed to be inclusive of all persons that experience displacement that may be in need of protection. Other legal categories within the scope of the Pledge include: internally displaced persons (IDPs), those with claims under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), and survivors of trafficking. For the purpose of this report, this group is collectively referred to as "refugees and others forcibly displaced" or "displaced communities". (2) A full list of the signatories to the Pledge can be found here. The contents of this report, including the number of pro bono hours undertaken, is drawn only from data provided by the pledgers who reported progress against their Pledge commitments to PILnet. The number of pro bono hours undertaken to support greater access to justice for refugees and others forcibly displaced by those that joined the Pledge, and by other actors, is in reality much larger.