News

• Project Updates

  06 June 2013

  Nominations Open for European Award for Partnership in the Public Interest

  PILnet: The Global Network for Public Interest Law is seeking nominations for the third annual European Award for Partnership in the Public Interest, which will recognize the best pro bono legal project (or projects) undertaken jointly between a nongovernmental organization and a law firm in Europe.  Read more
• Events

  07 May 2013

  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
• Project Updates

  24 April 2013

  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
• Project Updates

  28 March 2013

  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
• Project Updates

  18 January 2013

  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
• Events

  06 December 2012

  In Nigeria, Pro Bono Finds Fertile Ground

  The Nigerian state of Lagos is taking significant concrete steps to establish a formal system of pro bono legal assistance. The quickly emerging pro bono program was announced by the attorney general of Lagos at a landmark meeting on 8 November at which PILnet staff joined Nigerian authorities to work out a plan of action with the goal of making the Lagos justice system more accessible. Read more
• Project Updates

  06 December 2012

  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
• Project Updates

  30 November 2012

  China Passes Landmark Reform to Mental Disability Law

  China has passed landmark legislation that for the first time begins to lay out the rights of the mentally disabled and addresses abuses in its mental health system such as involuntary incarceration. Legislative reforms were long sought by mental health activists, including PILnet Fellow Huang Xuetao and her colleagues at the Equity and Justice Initiative (EJI). Read more
• Events

  29 November 2012

  PILnet’s 2nd Annual Hungarian Pro Bono Awards Announced

  The Hungarian legal community joined PILnet and the Hungarian Bar Association on Saturday 24 November in congratulating the winners of the 2012 Annual Hungarian Pro Bono Awards.  Tamás Fazekas was named Pro Bono Attorney of the Year and the Budapest office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges was honored as the Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year at a ceremony held at the Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court.  Read more
• Project Updates

  19 November 2012

  PILnet’s 2012 Forum Underlined Urgent Role for Pro Bono

  From the moment the opening session’s audience fell silent and Spain’s Minister of Justice was ushered to the podium, it was clear that PILnet’s sixth annual European Pro Bono Forum had the potential to be a game-changer. With a record number of participants (more than 350) from a record number of countries (48), the 2012 Forum brought together a deeply engaged community of lawyers and NGO leaders committed to using pro bono to combat the social dislocations of a dire economic time. Read more