Spring 2020
Welcome to our Spring e-Bulletin! In these challenging times as efforts are underway to halt the spread of the Covid-19 virus, this edition features ten articles showcasing a diverse range of pro bono projects and delivery models from around the world, where individual lawyers, law firms and organisations are providing pro bono legal services in support of human rights, justice, and strong national and international legal orders. You can also view @IBAProBono for examples of remote pro bono efforts and how lawyers are organising to help during the Covid-19 pandemic. The first two articles focus on gender equality and efforts to ensure gender responsive taxation globally and end discrimination and violence against women in Brazil. We then venture to South Africa, where law firms are partnering to realise the right to education for undocumented children and to right the past injustices of apartheid. In Chile, pro bono support is helping to educate citizens in unprecedented ways during the constitutional plebiscite, and in Spain, innovations harness blockchain technology to deliver targeted pro bono legal services. Internationally, two firms highlight how they are providing pro bono support during negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as during the Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. Finally, this e-Bulletin concludes by detailing the significant growth of pro bono partners in law firms globally and the unique ways pro bono is developing in Asia. Together, these articles demonstrate how pro bono legal services are being offered and incentivised, the range of important issues lawyers are tackling on a pro bono basis, and the demand for these services both nationally and internationally. Hopefully these pro bono snapshots offer inspiration and insights to help legal professionals around the globe deliver pro bono legal services, in line with the IBA Pro Bono Declaration. Please enjoy reading as you stay safe and healthy!

Best wishes,

Pamela Kovacs
International Development Law Organisation, The Hague
pkovacs@idlo.int 

View past IBA Pro Bono Committee articles here