Pro Bono Italia was launched yesterday as the first association of lawyers, law firms and forensic associations with the goal of promoting and spreading a pro bono culture throughout Italy.
Among the founders of Pro Bono Italia: ASLA, Albé e Associati, Carotenuto Studio Legale, Casella e Associati, Walter De Agostino, De Berti Jacchia Franchini Forlani, Dentons, Hogan Lovells, Marina Ingrasci’, Legance, Macchi di Cellere Gangemi, Quintavalle & Riva and White & Case.
Notarial aspects were handled by Giovannella Condò of Milano Notai.
Pro Bono Italia will endeavour to foster an open dialogue between lawyers, non-profit organisations, clearing-houses and legal clinics operating nationally and abroad. It intends to organise training activities on legal, social and cultural matters and facilitate the performance of pro bono services. The association will also cooperate with local, national and International Bar associations and other institutions to promote the approval of laws, regulations, codes and ethical standards instrumental to the development of pro bono in Italy.
Pro Bono Italia will be chaired by Giovanni Carotenuto, former partner at Orrick and founder of Carotenuto Studio Legale, and Stefano Macchi di Cellere, head of the London office of Macchi di Cellere Gangemi. Other members of the Board of Directors are Valentina Casella, partner at Casella e Associati, and Atanas Politov, formerly responsible for PILnet in Europe and currently Europe Director for Pro Bono at Dentons.
Many of the founders have actively participated in, and continue to support, the Italian Pro Bono Roundtable, a network of legal professionals, lawyers and non-profit associations established by PILnet (The Global Network for Public Interest Law) in April 2014. The Roundtable holds regular meetings in Rome and Milan and organises support for the European Pro Bono Forum, held for the first time in Rome in November 2015.
