An ongoing discussion at Namati is about strategies and structures for connecting paralegals/grassroots advocates & lawyers and how to facilitate those connections. We say that paralegals should be backed by lawyers but we want to draw out specifics about how that happening in practice.
In Namati’s Community Land Protection program our approach has been a little different than a ‘typical’ access to justice style program, given that we follow such a specific methodology.
The typical conception of paralegals is that they are part of a pyramid with connection to lawyers who can support them, litigate or make use of national institutions. Does this hold true in CLP work? How? Who is the ‘glue’ that links lawyers to the grassroots, and what does that look like in practice?
What are your efforts to network CLMs/paralegals with field staff and lawyers so they can access support and legal aid when/if needed?