7 ways Amazon’s global pro bono program is creating lasting community impact

Amazon Legal has partnered with Co-Counsel NYC and Davis Wright Tremaine, combining irreplaceable legal expertise with innovative technology. To assist those experiencing homelessness with asylum applications, we’ve developed a unique AI tool that helps users complete routine paperwork before meeting with attorneys. This technology has reduced the process by five hours, allowing our attorneys to focus on meaningful client interactions, dedicating more time to understanding each person's unique circumstances and delivering the personalized advocacy that changes lives. This AI-powered tool has significantly increased our efficiency to provide better, more valuable legal advice to those in need.

Building on our affordable housing commitments, we're supporting Mary's Place and Mercy Housing in developing a transformative campus in Burien, Washington. This innovative project combines over 200 beds of emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness alongside 90 units of affordable housing, creating a pathway from shelter to stability. Beyond Amazon’s $5 million donation, our legal team partnered with Perkins Coie to provide crucial pro bono legal support, handling complex construction and operating agreements, leases, and permitting.

Over the last year, we formally welcomed our public policy team into our pro bono program. They bring a variety of unique skills and experiences that complement our attorneys and legal professionals, and expand the reach of our program. For example, by hosting an event at the Amazon MGM Studios campus in California, we aim to connect 50+ state and local policymakers, elected officials, and staff with organizations like Public Counsel and Bet Tzedek and their pro bono projects, including small business support, sustainability, and veterans' services, among others. This innovative approach will help these organizations find legislative champions.

The Amazon Legal team in Japan has established a robust educational outreach program focused on teaching young students about the legal system and their rights. Since 2022, team members have conducted more than 28 career talks at middle and high schools throughout the Tokyo area, with 17 sessions held in 2024-2025 alone, reaching approximately 500 students. Our teams visit schools to discuss legal careers, organize guided tours of a local courthouse to observe actual court proceedings, and deliver important lectures on anti-bullying and human rights at elementary schools and after-school programs. By engaging directly with local educational institutions, the team is helping to develop the next generation's understanding of justice, professional opportunities in law, and the importance of service—creating long-lasting impact beyond traditional legal representation.

Amazon joined forces with White & Case LLP to support the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice's Women in Prison Project, conducting a comprehensive assessment of the UN Bangkok Rules' implementation across 18 countries. These international standards, which were adopted in 2010, are designed to improve the treatment of women in detention systems worldwide. This groundbreaking project engaged 55 Amazon legal and public policy professionals working alongside 72 White & Case attorneys to evaluate how nations have advanced women's rights in criminal justice systems over the past 15 years. The research provides governments and civil society organizations with crucial insights into implementation gaps and successful practices, with findings presented at the Women in Prison Global Convening in November 2025—commemorating the Bangkok Rules' 15th anniversary. This collaborative effort contributes to building a more equitable future for women in criminal justice systems and strengthens gender-responsive justice practices across five continents.

Our international legal teams created a custom AI application to support documenting racially restrictive housing covenants that prevented non-white people from buying property before the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Our teams review hundreds of historical real estate deeds to identify discriminatory clauses. This work directly supports reparative justice efforts, including Washington state's Covenants Homeownership Account Act, which provides compensation to victims of discriminatory housing agreements. While our AI application enhances productivity and accuracy, our teams’ judgment on each document being reviewed is critical in ensuring this history is accurately documented.

We remain dedicated to our longstanding pro bono practice areas, which include exonerating wrongly convicted individuals, safeguarding voting rights through election protection hotlines, helping families secure stable housing, providing legal aid to entrepreneurs, representing children fleeing violence and persecution, and leveraging our employees’ professional expertise and technology to create lasting positive change in our communities.