IANGEL celebrates Pro Bono Week 2016 by releasing the second edition of its Pro Bono Paper, Pro Bono Legal Services for Human Rights, by IANGEL President Nancy Newman, Advisory Board Member Shruti Rana, and IANGEL Network Attorney Mary Maloney Roberts.
Originally released in October 2015, the paper is a call-to-action, asking law firms to revisit their definition of pro bono work to ensure the inclusion of human rights as a part of the essential work for the public good. In March 2016, IANGEL hosted a panel conversation at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on “Pro Bono Legal Services for Women’s Empowerment“.
While the need for legal resources to address critical human rights issues is overwhelming, needlessly narrow definitions of what qualifies as “pro bono work” impair the legal profession’s efforts to address this need, while also hindering U.S. lawyers from gaining invaluable experience in the global legal marketplace. IANGEL presents its research on this issue, and a solution: to meet the needs of the legal profession and the world, to increase engagement in pro bono work and to train and inspire the next generation of lawyers to meet the challenges of the global economy, law firm policies should unequivocally embrace and support pro bono work for human rights.
DOWNLOAD Pro Bono Legal Services for Human Rights (2nd Edition, 2016)