Desh International Law is an innovative firm that seeks to help those who try to change the world for the better.

The Bellevue-based firm works with clients around the world to make sure that people with good ideas aren’t held back by bureaucracy or red tape.

So the members of Desh International Law were sticking to their mantra of crossing obstacles in foreign countries when they traveled to Whistler, British Columbia to compete in the Tough Mudder Half challenge.

“In January we decided to to something to benefit PATH,” said Pradnya Desh, owner and founder of the firm. “It was optional, but everyone in the firm jumped in right away.”

PATH is a global non-profit that funds innovation and helps individuals, companies or even whole countries in the health industry.

Desh said an example of PATH being put to good use was when a pharmaceutical company was giving away vaccines to a village in a remote region of central Africa.

The vaccines came in a container that was too big to store in the refrigerator in the regional hospital and expired before they could be put to use. PATH helped provide smaller containers so the vaccines could actually be used.

“The mission of our firm, while yes, it is a business law firm, is to help companies and individuals to change the world,” Desh said. “We were coming from that place when we decided we were running for PATH.”

The Tough Mudder Half is a challenging, 8-kilometer obstacle course on the mountain. All nine employees of Desh International Law turned out and all participated and competed in one way or another (one employee had just given birth, but she went along the path with her fellow employees and took photos of the event).

The group went mid-June and finished the race to help raise a few thousand dollars for PATH.

“We’re lawyers who sit behind desks all day,” Desh said. “Maybe one of us was an athlete. We started getting into shape in January.”

Desh said she lifted every 48 hours, kayaked and ran to get into shape. Other lawyers in the firm had different training regimens, but all had to tackle obstacles like the “pyramid scheme,” where racers have to find a way up and over a large, flat pyramid.

“We climbed on each other’s shoulders to get over the pyramid,” she said. “There were portions of that course which were incredibly tough, but our team has been made stronger because of it.”