Poll: Do you need pro bono legal support?

We are looking into ways to pair our network members with pro bono legal support from global law firms. We’d like to gauge our community’s interest in this opportunity.

Law firms can help civil society organizations with a range of legal issues, such as conducting legal research; advising on employment contracts, leases, MOUs (memorandums of understanding) or personnel policies; assisting with registration, regulatory compliance, court proceedings, and more. The nature of the work can be up to you.

Would you, as a civil society organization promoting legal empowerment, be interested in pro bono legal services? Please answer the poll below.

  • Yes, my organization would find pro bono legal services helpful
  • No, my organization does not need pro bono legal services
0 voters

If you answered “yes,” please elaborate on what you need help with, or the kind of legal service you’d find valuable. The more information we have on the needs of our members, the better we will be able to match you with helpful opportunities! Thank you in advance for your input.


Update:

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Thanks for sharing this information

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I am fighting a legal case which is violation of employment laws as the founders of the company forced employees to sign a 20 year contract which is more like a “bonded labor” contract. I am fighting the case since 8 years now - a case which should have closed in no time. But such is the legal system. I have spent lot of money and a pro-bono support will be great at this stage as it has reached evidence stage now. Thanks

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I hope you will succeed in this case. Please don’t give up

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@Mona - Thank you for helping us understand your needs. I’m sorry this case has been so arduous for you and your clients. Keep fighting the good fight!

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strong advice. Success legal empowerment need strong commitment

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Thanks for the information. Our organization would benefit from legal advice on steps to take on issues of compensation for compulsory land takes, benefits due to community members for communal resources once land is taken, Resettlements, approvals of Environmental and social impact studies without assurances to raised concerns and trainings in how to engage with legal processes.

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Our legal empowerment program currently consists of 5 components: free legal clinics, case resolution (civil only, not criminal), adult legal education workshop, adult and children educational charlas (more rights-based) and research. Specifically, we would benefit from having more lawyers assist during the free legal clinics and another lawyer to assist our current full-time lawyer with case management and follow up. Lastly, our research is very new and we don’t have sufficient time nor technical expertise in qualitative and quantitative grassroots research design. So having guidance there would also be valuable.

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I need pro bono for inhuman treatment and environmental damages in Enga Province of Papua New Guinea by gold mining company.

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Hi @kaselapalugroup and welcome. Your case sounds very troubling indeed, and you are in the right place to find moral support and sharing of strategies and ideas.

I will follow up with @abigailmoy who posted this poll to see if she has any new info about matching members with pro bono lawyers.

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Thanks and I will wait for your advice if possible through my email address.

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Replies here will be sent to your email. :wink:

If a matching scheme is created we will certainly let you know here first.

Hi there,

Of course, I would personally love to have pro bono legal support. But, if that is not possible, I would then love to have a no win - no fee arrangement.

I am wondering if anyone would be able to help point me in the right direction please.

My own case concerns economic and social justice as well as disclosure for public interest.

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Good morning everyone, I am impressed by everything what I see in Namati. I would like to create an awareness in the Canadian legal community about this heroic efforts of the lawyers, community paralegals and other legal professionals around the world for providing legal service to the people in need. I can not help with fundraising but I am sure there are many other ways to help. Truly yours, Alexandar

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I hope you will get the necessary help. Wish you all the best. Alexandar

Thank you very much for the information. I am not an organization, I am a Certified Law Clerk in Ontario. I would vote with yes if I can participate. Thanks, Alexandar

Interesting. @ALIALALAWI shared a link to an announcement today from PILnet and Justice Connect about an upcoming global pro bono portal - details pasted below. There are contact email addresses to follow up if interested. When the portal is launched, let’s be sure to share it here with members of this network!

International NGO PILnet and the Australian charity Justice Connect today announced a ground-breaking collaboration to provide a pro bono platform to support access to justice around the world. This platform would help to efficiently connect vulnerable and marginalized communities and individuals with free, high-quality legal assistance from pro bono lawyers around the world.

Over 5 billion people globally have a legal problem each year, with the majority missing out on any legal assistance. Currently, around 2.3 million hours are contributed pro bono by lawyers to access to justice projects each year across the world. A recent survey undertaken by PILnet and Justice Connect showed that 76% of organizations that match lawyers with pro bono opportunities (clearinghouses) would likely use the platform. PILnet and Justice Connect anticipate that their global platform could double the number of hours contributed by lawyers for free over the next five years.

Justice Connect and PILnet collectively work with hundreds of law firms, over 50 clearinghouses and over 10,000 pro bono lawyers, across 60 countries.

Justice Connect CEO, Chris Povey, said, “Our partnership with PILnet will enable jurisdictions around the world to benefit from Justice Connect’s work to date. This represents an opportunity to significantly scale the impact of our work, and to support the growth of pro bono and access to justice internationally.”

“Not only does this represent a significant opportunity to help more people, it will also enable us to understand global trends in unmet legal needs so that we can strategically allocate resources for greater impact,” said Garth Meintjes, executive director of PILnet.

Brooke Massender, Global Head of Pro Bono at international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, said, “We strongly support the thoughtful, design-led approach to harnessing technology so that we can better match our pro bono resources with legal need.”

The platform will be developed based on Justice Connect’s Pro Bono Portal in Australia that connects people and NGOs with unmet legal needs with pro bono lawyers from 49 firms. With seed funding from Google and a range of philanthropists, the platform was co-designed with firms and help-seekers to create an intuitive system, and recently won a prestigious Gold Good Design Award in social impact. Since the launch of Justice Connect’s Pro Bono Portal, the number of pro bono referrals to pro bono lawyers that Justice Connect makes has doubled with no increase in resourcing.

Globally, appetite in the legal profession to undertake pro bono work is steadily increasing year on year. This platform will apply sophisticated technology to unlock latent pro bono legal capacity and match it with unmet legal need in an efficient manner. The collaboration aims to create a model that employs best practices, is secure, and reduces costs and overheads as much as possible for all users of the system.

For information, please contact:
Kate Fazio, Justice Connect, kate.fazio@justiceconnect.org.au
Andrej Nosko, PILnet, anosko@pilnet.org

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Great idea! I would like to share this information with some of my contacts here in Canada? Can Canadians receive help with this site? In some places there is a desperate need for legal advice. Thank you very much for sharing. Alex

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Hi Alex! Enjoyed hearing your voice for the first time today on the campaign coalition call. :wink:

I’m not sure what the details are on this project and who is eligible etc - it’s the first I am hearing of it today myself. My suggestion would be that you write to them and find out. If you can do that and report back here, we’d all certainly appreciate. You could also tell them about this post and suggest they join us here to tell our community more about their plans, and opportunities to get involved.

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Great idea. I sent them emails.

Where are you located?

Thank you.

Alexandar

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