Originally published on March 1, 2010 in our free BigLaw newsletter.
When disasters like the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile strike, many lawyers want to offer assistance, but don't know how to put their skills to use. Given the complex problems that exist in the developing world, writing a mean summary judgment motion may not seem like a particularly transferable skill. Since 2001, the New York City Bar Association's Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice has offered lawyers in New York and around the country an opportunity to get involved in pro bono work on international legal issues.
The Vance Center, which is named for former United States Secretary of State (and New York City Bar president) Cyrus R. Vance, seeks to "give continuing substance to [Vance's] conviction that lawyers have an ethical obligation to play an active role in the promotion of peace, democracy, and social justice." Explains Elise Colomer Grimaldi, an Associate Director at the Center and the Director of its Latin America Program and Clearinghouse, the Vance Center "tries to engage lawyers, in the U.S. and abroad, in human rights work," in order to expand access to justice in young democracies and developing economies. Law firms, Colomer Grimaldi says, are an essential part of the Center's work.
The Center's efforts focus on human rights issues in Latin America and Africa. But, while the Center's partners in the private bar include law firms with practices in these regions, a foreign presence is not prerequisite to any firm's involvement. Rather, Colomer Grimaldi explains, one of the primary assets that law firms bring to the table is knowledge.
"Law firms have a lot to offer in the form of 'know-how' — in terms of legal issues, but perhaps more importantly, with respect to the variety of technical issues involved in implementing a pro bono program, and the nuts and bolts of getting pro bono work done," says Colomer Grimaldi. "Law firms and practitioners here in the U.S. may not have experience working on the actual legal problems that affect Latin America and Africa, but they have a great deal of experience running pro bono cases and programs — from knowing how to use FOIA requests effectively in certain kinds of litigation to understanding how to create groups of lawyers who can work with non-governmental organizations or other human rights advocates."
"The 'transfer of knowledge,' from law firms is invaluable," she adds. "The ability of U.S. lawyers to share that knowledge — about how pro bono programs are structured, how to create opportunities for pro bono work outside of typical business relationships, and how to get young lawyers engaged in pro bono work — is tremendously important to the lawyers we work with in Latin America and Africa." In 2008, the Center and its partners (in the private bar and in Latin America) introduced the Pro Bono Declaration for the Americas, which represented the "first collaborative effort in the Americas to articulate the professional responsibility of lawyers to promote access to justice and provide pro bono legal assistance to those in need."
Law firms bring another important asset to the table: reputation. "U.S. law firms bring clout and credibility to projects and pro bono efforts elsewhere," Colomer Grimaldi explains. "Because U.S. firms are seen as the 'law firm of the 21st century,' they confer legitimacy on their foreign counterparts, which want to be perceived as having the same best practices, and the same value to contribute to social justice efforts."
Some may wonder whether pro bono work and helping to build pro bono networks in other countries is a luxury limited to large firms with ample resources? Not at all, according to Colomer Grimaldi. The Center relies on firms of all sizes for research, "knowledge transfer," and for the assistance they can offer in the virtual realm, through VanceNet, its "Web-facilitated network of lawyers, scholars and advocates working to enhance access to justice and public interest law in their countries and regions."
Through VanceNet, she says, lawyers from small to midsize firms can contribute in a variety of ways, from providing "specific expertise to talking to their foreign counterparts about how to balance the need to make a profit with their legal and social responsibilities to the community." In other words, the Vance Center helps even the most local practitioners find a way to act globally.
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