"The principle and practice of pro bono-volunteer legal services for poor and other marginalized groups-is an increasingly important feature of justice systems around the world.1 A quarter century ago, pro bono was an ancillary part of the U.S. system and virtually nonexistent as an institutional matter elsewhere.2 Now, in contrast, pro bono has become widely diffused and institutionally central in a growing number of countries throughout the Global North and South. PILNet, a key player in the global pro bono industry, has hosted Pro Bono Forums around the world (ten in Europe, three in Asia, and two in Russia), recently convening Global Forums bringing together law firm pro bono coordinators, civil society partners, and representatives from over fifty pro bono clearinghouses in countries as diverse as Indonesia and Italy. Yet as pro bono spreads it develops in diverse ways that reveal different approaches and unique understandings of the role that volunteer services should play in promoting access to justice. In its advance, pro bono often brings important positive outcomes for underserved individuals and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that advocate on their behalf. But pro bono also invites controversy-attacked by proponents of state-based legal aid as a vehicle of neoliberal privatization and resisted by solo and small-firm lawyers as unfair competition. It is in this context that our book seeks to deepen understanding of pro bono as a double-edged sword: a vehicle of redistributing legal resources to those who desperately need them, but also a tool of professional legitimation that reinforces profound inequalities in the legal system. Covering the spread of pro bono in over twenty countries across five continents, this book provides a unique comparative dataset permitting"--

This book provides the first-ever analysis of the growing yet contested role of pro bono services in access to justice globally.

How to access the power and profitability of pro bono resources Savvy nonprofits use strategic management, marketing, technology, leadership to be competitive. With strapped budgets, many nonprofits cannot afford to pay for these resources. However, businesses are an often overlooked as an effective source of skilled professionals who can supply the needed skills. This book shares the acclaimed Taproot Foundation?s pro bono best practices and shows nonprofit managers to apply them to their own unique challenges in a low-to-no-cost way. The author offers keys to identifying opportunities for using pro bono sources, recruiting pro bono resources, and managing pro bono projects effectively. Reveals how a nonprofit can partner with a global corporations to further their mission in an effective and low-cost manner Aaron Hurst is the president and founder of the Taproot Foundation who pioneered a new field in community investment and continually breaks new ground through its signature, catalytic programs designed for the emerging global pro bono marketplace Gives nonprofit managers and staff the keys to identifying opportunities for using pro bono resources Taproot?s Aaron Hurst offers a hands-on guide to managing and engaging pro bono resources directed at nonprofit organizations.

"This book provides broad research and applied coverage of subjects relating to the social impact of e-payment and blockchain in various industries and countries establishing a forum for the exchange of research ideas and practices,"--

When Kiriko Yanagida first came to Otsuka's law offices, she had only a familial conviction of her brother's innocence despite his confessing to the murder. To the high-profile (and high priced) lawyer Otsuka, this small-town girl's belief was nothing more than naive hope, so he sent her away, advising her to find a local lawyer or something. Now, Kiriko plots to avenge her brother -- entirely pro bono.

From 2004 to 2006, the author led the pro bono representation of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (“SPLM”), assisting the SPLM in drafting and negotiating the National Interim Constitution of Sudan, the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan and the Constitutions of two “transitional” states. The representation was part of an emerging trend in pro bono representations. In small but increasing numbers, private law firms have begun to take on pro bono projects with global significance - assisting governments and civil society in post-conflict countries to deal on an even footing with foreign investors, for instance, or working with international criminal courts to prepare indictments of war criminals. This development within the legal community is connected to changes in the scope and ambition of the “corporate responsibility” initiatives of many multinational corporate clients of the firms leading the internationalization of pro bono services. Private law firms are hardly unique as third-party participants in the highest levels of inter- and intra-sovereign processes. Certainly, it is well known that foreign government assistance, inter-governmental organizations such as the UN or World Bank, and non-governmental organizations play a large role in the social and economic development of poorer countries. Less light has been shed, however, on the role those same entities play in the fundamental sovereign processes of formation, dissolution, war, and peace, and no discussion at all exists regarding the new role of law firms in such weighty international affairs. A close look at the way law firms operate in that rarefied space provides an illuminating contrast to the behavior of other actors. The entry of law firms and multinational corporations into the 'market' of global affairs - long the exclusive domain of governments and inter-governmental organizations - offers many advantages to clients in developing and post-conflict countries, but also poses dangers which can and should be mitigated. One of the foremost benefits private law firms offer is their unique ability to ensure - even to guarantee - local ownership of the process and its content due to the strict requirements of the attorney-client relationship. These include attorneys' obligations to follow the directives of their clients, to keep the confidences of the client and to act independently of any third party. Unlike other players in the field of international aid such as foreign donor governments, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private foundations, private lawyers providing pro bono services do not receive donations, do not have “mandates” other than those dictated by the client (bounded, of course, by ethical regulations), and do not have real or imagined “constituencies” to which they are accountable, other than the client. Yet the enforceability of the ethical code that gives rise to those advantages is questionable in a transnational representation. A lack of regulation raises questions about legitimacy and accountability, and may suggest a specter of legal imperialism. A practical approach to mitigating those disadvantages can be gleaned from the novel work of an increasing number of scholars writing within the Global Administrative Law (“GAL”) paradigm. GAL scholars have analyzed the myriad ways in which disparate national administrative standards have been synchronized, though not necessarily harmonized, in various contexts (e.g., environmental concerns, accounting standards). A key concept in GAL scholarship is that of transnational networks - patterns of regular and purposive relations (and institutions) among like regulatory bodies working across borders dividing countries and demarcating the “domestic” from the “international.” The article will draw on this and other concepts and principles identified by GAL scholars proposing ways to bring a measure of accountability to transnational pro bono activities (indeed to transnational lawyering, generally) that respect the domestically self-regulated legal profession and which cannot (and should not) be harmonized across jurisdictions. Rather, the article suggests that regulation of global pro bono service should graduate from “accidental distributed administration” to “deliberate transnational network administration.” Without some attention paid to the way law firms operate in this arena, there is a risk that the ethical obligations of attorneys will become little more than a cover for advancing Western corporate interests.

This book presents 40 pro bono design projects produced by many of the leading architects working today. The clients include grassroots community organizations like the Homeless Prenatal Program of San Francisco, as well as national and international nonprofits, among them Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity and Planned Parenthood.