Global Pro Bono Archives - Page 4 of 5

VIDEO: Pro Bono for Global Social Change

October 25, 2011

The PBEye has been excited to report on various global pro bono efforts that have harnessed the power of attorneys to affect social change. So of course we were delighted to talk to Edwin Rekosh, executive director of PILnet (formerly the Public Interest Law Institute), abut his organization’s mission to promote the use of law for social change. Internationally, civil society organizations are using legal tools to pursue certain public interests, but don’t always have the backing of pro bono lawyers that they do in the U.S. That’s where PILnet seeks to strengthen pro bono culture to assist foreign NGOs.

Singapore’s Solution to Dead-Beat Dads

October 11, 2011

In 2009 alone, Singapore moms filed 3,600 claims against fathers who failed to make child support and spousal maintenance payments, some of them repeat defaults. Custodial parents who depend on regular payments to support their minor children endure an endless stream of time-consuming court procedures in an effort to enforce their kids’ legal right to support. The PBEye recently learned from The Straits Times that pro bono is about to make justice more accessible to single parents in Singapore. The Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) is tackling this barrier to justice by shifting the burden from the custodial parent

CPBO Spotlight On: Caterpillar Inc.

September 28, 2011

Caterpillar established a pro bono program in 2006, under the leadership of Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Jim Buda, who recognized the benefits of developing a pro bono program, both for the legal division and for the communities in which the company operates. In five short years, the legal division, which consists of more than 300 attorneys and staff in 26 offices worldwide, has provided thousands of hours of pro bono legal services to those in need. In addition, a Charter Signatory to the Corporate Pro Bono ChallengeSM, the Caterpillar legal division has met the Challenge’s 50 percent

Russia’s Pro Bono Revolution

September 8, 2011

Until a few years ago, pro bono was a largely unfamiliar concept in Russia. According to an article in The Moscow Times, Russia’s recent pro bono revolution comes at an opportune time when Russian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are in dire need of legal support: The legal environment for NGOs has become more challenging. New registration requirements and complex tax regulations have added a heavy burden to NGO operations, and securing access to affordable legal support is now critical to strengthening civil society. It is here that both international and local firms can have the greatest impact. Over the past few years, pro bono lawyers from Clifford Chance and other Russia-based law firms have

VIDEO: Helping Lawyers Help Immigrants in Need

August 24, 2011

It comes as a surprise to many to learn that, in the United States, an immigrant detainee facing deportation who cannot afford to hire an attorney is not appointed one. Without the assistance of pro bono counsel, many immigrants – some of them asylum seekers and victims of violent crimes – are denied the opportunity to identify legal recourse or present their cases to the courts. To learn how pro bono lawyers can help immigrant detainees gain access to justice, we spoke to Maria Odom, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC). Maria gave us some interesting

Global Spotlight: Elephant Energy

August 17, 2011

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” Light, and pro bono service, we’d like to add. This week, The PBEye spied a pro bono empowered initiative, Elephant Energy, that quite literally drives out darkness from rural villages across Namibia by distributing sustainable energy technologies. Namibia lacks the resources to meet the energy needs of its rural population. Daily livelihood activities are rendered unsafe, inefficient, or even impossible without electricity. For example, between 1.3 and 1.6 million women and children die worldwide each year as a result of air pollution caused by smoke inhalation from cooking

Post-Flood Pro Bono in Pakistan

August 3, 2011

One year after last summer’s devastating and deadly floods, many of Pakistan’s 1,096,000 internally displaced people, along with Pakistan’s 702,000 Afghan refugees, remain hungry, homeless, and vulnerable to an array of grave rights violations. The PBEye is relieved to report that pro bono is beginning to make an appearance in Pakistan. According to The Pakistan Observer, the Islamabad-based NGO Struggle for Change (SACH) is harnessing pro bono power to protect victims of torture and other traumatic human rights violations. SACH supplies survivors with shelter, medical treatment, psychological support, and free legal services. Extensive recent media coverage of events in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Global Spotlight: Vitamin Angels

July 28, 2011

Surely by now you’ve read our article, Pro Bono Food for Thought: Improving Access to Nutrition, in this month’s edition of The Wire, so you’re well aware of the important role pro bono plays in improving access to food and nutrition across America. As it turns out, nutrition is an equally vital enterprise for firms and legal departments seeking to do global pro bono as well. Nine hundred and twenty-five million – or one out of every seven people in the world – went hungry last year, and one in three people in developing countries suffers vitamin and mineral deficiencies. According to UNICEF, children are exceptionally vulnerable:

Challenge Firms Champion Rights of Refugees

July 8, 2011

Human Rights First celebrated World Refugee Day 2011 by paying homage to their law firm partners for outstanding pro bono legal service on behalf of indigent refugees. Refugees are persons who are unable or unwilling to return to their native countries due to a well-founded fear of persecution or because their lives or freedom would be threatened. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that, by the end of last year, nearly 44 million people had been forcibly displaced worldwide, 15.4 million of them refugees. Many displaced men, women, and children spend years living in crowded camps, others languish in detention

Today Slovakia, Tomorrow the World!

June 3, 2011

The PBEye is pleased to report that pro bono is taking root around the world. This week Slovakia went pro bono in a big way with the launch of its national Pro Bono Advocacy program which links private practitioners with local nonprofits and provides free legal advice to NGOs. Administered by the Pontis Foundation with assistance from PILnet, the program has already harnessed the pro bono legal talent of a slew of Slovak law firms. Whereas some countries’ legal communities have not been as eager to embrace pro bono, this initiative has garnered broad national support, from the Slovak Bar Association, which hosted the inaugural event, to

Category: Global Pro Bono