IBA International Pro Bono

Nominations now open for the IBA Pro Bono Committee Award 2013

This year during the International Bar Association (IBA) 2013 Annual Conference, to be held 6-11 October in Boston, the IBA's Pro Bono Committee will honour a lawyer who has shown an outstanding commitment to pro bono work as part of their legal career.

The IBA Pro Bono Committee are delighted to announce that LexisNexis are sponsoring this award, which will include:
• free registration to attend the IBA Annual Conference in Boston, USA, 6-11October 2013;
• a contribution of up to US$5,000 towards accommodation and travel costs to attend the conference; and
• one year's free membership of the IBA, SPPI and the Pro Bono Committee.
All applications received by Friday 21 July 2013 will be submitted to a judging panel who must be satisfied that the nominee is eligible for the award.

Click here, to download the application form.

Latest Articles:

Pro bono lawyers partner with NGOs to promote international development

Delegates at the IBA Dublin conference 2012 had the chance to attend the PPID session on Global Poverty. The final speaker on the panel was Yasmin Batliwala, Chief Executive of the charity Advocates for International Development.
A4ID is a global charity based in London. It aims to alleviate poverty and achieve the Millennium Goals. To do this, the charity brings together it's development partners - ie Non-governmental organisations; civil society organisations; social enterprises; the UN; and Governments in the developing world - and their legal partners - a network of over 40,000 pro bono lawyers around the world.

To read the full article click here

Lawyers Against Poverty - Housing and Human Rights

As part of the PPID showcase session at the IBA 2012 Annual Conference in Dublin, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, known as Sister Stan, spoke about poverty, housing and what lawyers can do to help alleviate the impact of homelessness.
In 1985, Sister Stan founded the charity Focus Ireland in response to the needs of a group of homeless women with whom she had been working. Based on the belief that everyone has a right to a home, Focus Ireland works to prevent people becoming, remaining or returning to homelessness.

To read the full article click here

Sister Stan invites IBA members to join the campaign to protect the legal rights of homeless people and to share their own experiences of campaigning for the homeless in other jurisdictions.

If you are interested in getting involved please email the IBA at ipbadmin@int-bar.org and they will help put you in touch with Focus Ireland.

Tong Lihua 2012 IBA Pro Bono Award Winner

The winner of the 2012 International Bar Association (IBA) Pro Bono Award has been announced as Mr Tong Lihua, Director of the Beijing Children's Legal Aid and Research

Center and the Beijing Zhicheng Migrant Workers' Legal Aid and Research Center, Beijing, China. The IBA Pro Bono and Access to Justice Committee, together with Award spons

or LexisNexis, presented Mr Tong with the Award on Thursday 04 October 2012 during the IBA's Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland.

To read the full article click here

IBA Conference 2012 PPID Showcase Session - Lawyers Against Poverty

Session highlighted as part of the President's focus for the IBA Task Force on 'Challenges for the Legal Profession post Global Financial Crisis'.

Poverty lies at the root of the world's worst problems - hunger, conflict, poor health, low life expectancy, deprivation of justice and more. Almost half the individuals in the world live every day on less than the price of a cup of coffee. As lawyers, we champion access to justice, the protection of human rights and the rule of law. But, without tackling poverty, we're often attempting to address symptoms and not the root cause. Why then, as lawyers, do we spend so little time thinking about and acting to alleviate poverty? Why have we not been more visible at the forefront of the battle against poverty? What do we need to do to remedy this?

Click here to view the video for this session. The first part of this video includes the Pro Bono Award acceptance and speech, from 1:17:45 to the end of the clip.

Click here to view Professor Thomas Pogge's presentation for this session.

Pro bono, international development and the IBA 2012 conference

The IBA's Public and Professional Interest Division's showcase at the 2012 annual conference focused on poverty - both the causes and what we, as lawyers, can do about it.

There is no one area of law that provides the mechanism for alleviating poverty. Instead, we'll be looking at a variety of issues from the exploitation of natural resources and the expropriation of land to anti-corruption law and tax havens - a disparate mix that could arguably be grouped together under the umbrella of international development law. So, what is international development law and how can practitioners get involved?

To read the full article click here

Pro Bono and Access to Justice session, Dubai 2011 - You know it makes sense: the role of pro bono in a well-managed law firm

Historically, pro bono was a priority issue for very few law firm managers. Individual lawyers were largely left to identify and pursue their own pro bono involvement. Most firms provided little more than tacit support and then subject always to that involvement not getting in the way of chargeable work.

Recent years, however, have seen a major change in outlook from many firms, with far more attention being given to the role pro bono has to play in the successful modern firm. This has, in no small part, been driven by client demands, often, in pursuance of their own corporate social responsibility agendas. But enlightened managers, as well as recognising the need to meet client expectations, have also begun to appreciate the other, substantial benefits that can accrue from the development of a vibrant pro bono ethos and practice within their firms.

Part 1: Click here to view part 1 of this session.

Part 2: Click here to view part 2 of this session.

Pro Bono and Access to Justice session, Dubai 2011 - Pearls and Swords: developing clinical law and pro bono programmes in the Middle East and Gulf regions

During the 19th century some of the traditional Middle East and Gulf countries were famous for their pearl-diving and sword-making. In modern developmental states pearls of wisdom are needed to advance social justice for all, and the rule of law replaces rule by the sword. Law schools and legal practitioners can play a crucial role in this respect by engaging in pro bono activities.
In recent years, in the Middle East and Gulf region, there have been a number of initiatives by law schools and bar associations to promote pro bono work. The session began with a panel discussion by law teachers and lawyers involved in some of these initiatives. It concluded with an interactive exercise in which academic and practising lawyers from the region, and lawyers from other jurisdictions, shared their experiences and encouraged further initiatives in the region.

Part 1: Click here to view part 1 of this session.

Part 2: Click here to view part 2 of this session.

Part 3: Click here to view part 3 of this session.

This site's series on best practices in academic clinics continues with its latest article:

Since 2006, the Pro Bono Collaborative (PBC) at Roger Williams University School of Law has provided free legal assistance to thousands of low-income individuals and families. Unlike referral programs, in which one attorney is matched with one client on an urgent basis, the PBC matches law firms and law students with community organizations to provide pro bono legal assistance in a specific area of law that affects a large number of the organizations' clients and fits within the expertise and/or interests of the law firms' attorneys. Read more>>