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Three Ways Are Better than One: Building Public Interest Law in China
Standing on the front lines of public interest advocacy, PILnet’s International Fellows in China are faced with critical questions of strategy. Is legal aid the most effective way to advance the interests of the public, or is NGO advocacy? Or perhaps engaging the private sector through pro bono? Read more
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PILnet’s Mission and its Method Find a Home in Nepal
After more than a decade of brutal civil war in Nepal, a peace treaty was signed in 2006—the same year PILnet: The Global Network for Public Interest Law welcomed its first Nepali advocates to the International Fellows program. Since then, the Fellowship has included leading Nepali human rights lawyers in every class, in the process building an influential cadre of advocates who are deeply involved in shaping the country’s constitution and its legal system. Read more
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The Ethical Path: Preparing Young Lawyers for Legal Practice
Building on the success of last year’s legal ethics training for Russian law students, PILnet and its partners held a second edition of the four-day intensive session in Moscow, 7-10 November 2012. Read more
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PILnet Welcomes the European Network for Clinical Legal Education
Legal clinicians from across Europe recently set down the foundation for a new network. ENCLE, the European Network for Clinical Legal Education, will serve as an information hub and an open resource for the continent’s clinical community, including law schools, instructors, legal professionals, and NGOs. Read more
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Civil Legal Aid in the Western Balkans: Achievements, Opportunities and Risks
Dan Manning, 2012. This report was prepared on behalf of a network of legal services NGOs in the Western Balkans, known as the Ohrid Initiative for Free Legal Aid. The purpose of the report is to call attention to achievements of legal aid organizations, opportunities to create stable institutions promoting legal empowerment, and the risk that the investments already made will be lost. This report is the outcome of an exploratory visit to Kosovo made by the author Dan Manning and PILnet's Dmitry Shabelnikov in the spring of 2012. Read more
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World's Models of Legal Aid for Criminal Cases: What Can Russia Borrow?
Elena Burmitskaya, Lambert Academic Publishing What are the main objectives and priorities for reforming the Russian system of state-funded criminal legal aid, and can the best international models in this field be adapted for Russia? This English language book--available here in an abbreviated form--provides an analysis of various models of state-funded criminal legal aid around the world and identifies best practices for application in the Russian context. Read more
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Sowing Independence, Together
Most of us take home for granted: a place where you get the life skills necessary to move out and up in the world, where you’re nourished, and, importantly, where you learn to give back. The Dacha Program, run by the Russian charity Together Fund, was created to give such a home to older orphans—some of the most disadvantaged youth in Russian society. The program represents an ideal combination of motivated individuals and practical solutions, all for a compelling cause. What more can be asked? Read more
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Small Mercies: Delivering on the Promise of Child-Friendly Justice
Children need more than off-the-shelf advocates. Each year, thousands of juveniles across Central and Eastern Europe come face to face with judicial systems that are insensitive to their unique needs and lawyers who are inadequately trained to protect their rights. Read more
blog:
Delivering Justice
Unlikely Bedfellows? NGOs Partner with Corporate Lawyers for Pro Bono
At first glance human rights NGOs and corporate lawyers don’t have much in common. Take a closer look, though, and you can see a growing partnership emerging between the two.
PILnet has helped to lay the foundations for such partnerships, first across Europe and now globally, by helping local and international NGOs identify their legal needs and then by matching those needs with corporate pro bono lawyers. It’s a simple solution for NGOs that lack the budget to pay for legal advice or research, as well as for lawyers who want to use their legal skills to help a good cause but might not know where to find opportunities. Read more
featured fellow:
Folusho Shado
Reading and Rights in Nigeria: A PILnet Interview
PILnet: One centerpiece of the PILnet Fellowship is the legal project each Fellow develops aimed at advancing justice in their home country. Yours is already having an impact in Nigeria—can you fill us in?
Folusho Shado: The project I developed concerns the right to education in Nigeria. This is a right that's on the books here but the requirement that all citizens receive a basic education is really just an aspiration. I wanted to address that gap and find ways to close it.
The project’s main strategies involve educational outreach, advocacy, policy analysis, and legal action. A sister organization, the Orderly Society Trust, has already taken on the educational component. They’ve started about ten alternative schools in different areas and have begun a literacy program targeted at adults. Classes are free and they’re offered at times when adults are able to attend.
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