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Tag: Pro bono

  • Stakeholders access partnership law on pro bono services

    Stakeholders access partnership law on pro bono services

    A stakeholders meeting on Lagos Public Interest Law Partnership was held last week to appraise the success of the initiative one year after it was launched. ADEBISI ONANUGA and PRECIOUS IGBONWELUNDU report

    How effective has the Lagos Public Interest Law Partnership (LPILP) been? Has it met its objectives since it was launched last year by Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN)?

    The law provides a platform where the state partners with private law firms to provide pro-bono legal services to the poor.

    The goal is to increase access to justice and further secure the fundamental rights of every citizen, irrespective of their financial means.

    Since its launch in November 2012, 66 law firms and non-governmental organisations have signed on.

    Through the platform, 116 cases pro-bono have been handled, 36 of which are civil and 80 are criminal matters.

    Through this process, the law has assisted 423 indigent persons with quality legal representation by private legal practitioners. This figure includes two public interest suits which served 110 claimants in one case and 48 in the other.

    In a bid to encourage more legal practitioners to engage in free legal services to indigent persons, Lagos State Government has said plans are underway to establish special funds for the assistance of interested junior lawyers.

    Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice (AG) Ade Ipaye made the disclosure at the first LPILP Pro Bono week in Lagos, with the theme: “Building a culture of Pro Bono in Nigeria.”

    Noting that the special fund would be launched on April 11 to further improve access to justice for all Lagosians, Ipaye acknowledged that the Office of the Public Defender was overwhelmed, hence the need for a public private partnership (PPP) on legal aid.

    “We intend to launch a fund for independent young lawyers to assist them in handling their pro bono cases.

    “This fund would only be available to young lawyers in order to assist them meet such expenses as filing and transportation.

    “Lack of legal services to those who need them have resulted in long adjournments and striking out of cases in courts which have inturn cast aspersions on the reputation of the judiciary,” said Ipaye.

    “We now have 66 partner law firms, four NGOs and have a total of 116 cases ongoing in different courts under this programme. We have impacted about 400 people, which is good progress but we are just beginning,” he said.

    While commending the law firms that have signed-on the programme, he urged others to see Pro Bono services as their way of giving back to the society.

    In her speech, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Adefulire called on lawyers to ensure access to justice is not only for the rich but also available to the poor.

    “There is need for us as stakeholders to give voice to the voiceless. After launching OPD many years ago, we found out that the responsibilities on the body were enormous and even with the number of lawyers at the OPD, it was realised that they were overwhelmed and could not handle all cases.”

    Adefulire said the population of Lagos had placed an enormous responsibility on the government, especially in the area of providing access to justice for all residents.

    “We are the commercial nerve centre not only for Nigeria but also for the entire West Africa ans with the responsibility of being a former capital of the country, the challenges are enoutmous

    “So, this is the reason why we are soliciting collaboration of private lawyers because many more people still do not have access to justice,” she said.

    “Gender based violence and woman/child abuse are order of day and some of the victims are so helpless that they do not know what to do.

    “At the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) no fewer than 400 distress calls are received daily from victims of one form of abuse or the other and not all of thecases can be handled by the OPD”, she added.

    The deputy governor  commended the 66 law firms and four NGOs for partnering with the State Government to actualise the objective of the Pro Bono services in the State

    Delivering a welcome address, Director, OPD, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi said the office has sent over 100 cases to LPILP, adding that the thrust of the initiative is for all stakeholders to work closely in order to develop a sustainable future with Pro Bono.

    Mrs. Rotimi urged more lawyers to buy into the ideals of the LPILP.

    She said that the stakeholders meeting is an opportunity for the public and private sector to brainstorm  and have collaboration as equal partners to advance the course of justice administration through improved access to justice’.

    She said, the need for pro bono services across the globe has never been greater. There is a growing awareness among members of the profession and a desire to play their part in addressing this need and thus bridging the gap. Corporate pro bono is on the rise throughout the world and the timing of this meeting  could not be better because the difficult economic climate has led to a dramatic increase in the demand for free legal services from the under privileged section of the society.

    ”Our aim is to develop a framework for public-private partnership dedicated to ensuring that no resident of Lagos State is prevented from accessing the justice system on  the grounds of lack of means’. she added

    President, Public Interest Law Network (PILNet), Prof. Edwin Rekosh in his remark noted that access to justice was under duress globally.

    While noting that lawyers commonly say there is no free launch, Prof. Rekosh urged stakeholders to see Pro Bobo services as a call to assist those in distress.

    “At PILNet, we understand Pro Bono as an obligation, and harnessing the good spirit of lawyers to assist those in distress is the focal point. I appeal to Nigeria lawyers to take up voluntary Pro Bono.

    “No legal aid system exist across the world wothout a crack, and so, if properly structured and institutionalised, the Pro Bona can harness more resources to help solve legal aid problems.,” he said.

    While making a presentation on the need assessment research conducted into culture of pro bono in Lagos by the LPILP in conjuction with PILNet and Justice Research Institute (JRI), Prof. Lanre Fagbohun of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) noted that formal structures for Pro Bono services do not exist in most law firms.

    He said not many law firms appreciate the essence of their participation in Pro Bono services, calling for re-orientation of lawyers and judicial officers.

    Fagbohun disclosed that out of a total of 1148 respondents sampled in the course of the research, only 10 percent have benefited from free legal services in the state.

    Prof. Lanre Fagbohun, said there were enormous challenges being faced in providing equal access to justice for citizens. Fagbohun  observed that majority of litigants still appear in court without attorneys for economic reasons. He said that closing the gap would require a multifaceted approach which would include strong and effective partnership with private attorneys and law firms and NGOs providing freem legal services, the bar, the judiciary, development agencies and other stakeholders. The professor said that there is a significant justice gap between the level of legal services available than what is required to meet the needs of unserved litigants. Given this background, her summed that the commitment of Lagos state to ensuring equal access to justice is seriously at risk.

    He suggested a 14 point approach to improving access to justice in the state. According to him, there is a need to educate and create more awareness on activities of state funded legal service providers and of LPILP. He stressed the need to improve on facilities at the lower court, including increased technology, in order for judicial officers to pee4form more effectively.     The erudite professor of law stressed that specific days be dedicated for hearing of pro bono cases in order to ensure  quick dispensation of pro bono matters.  He said that the understanding of pro bono matters should go beyond giving mere legal advices to litigants or representing them in courts. He emphasized that it should include situations whereby practitioners are able to forward  petitions to office of Attorney General in respect of unrepresented litigants and awaiting trials in prisons among other suggestions.

    Prof. Edwin Rekosh, an adjunct professor at Colombia University, New York, noted that it was not only in Nigeria that access to justice was under pressure.

    Rekosh said countries such as the UK and US had cut funding for legal aid in recent years.       He said notwithstanding, Government still had an obligation to render free legal services to its citizens who could not afford such services.

  • Building a culture of pro bono in Nigeria

    Building a culture of pro bono in Nigeria

    The above title is paraphrased from an event organised by Lagos State, the Centre of Excellence, last week, under the auspices of The Lagos State Public Interest Law Partnership (LPILP).

    According to a promotional leaflet shared to participants, the aim of the LPILP platform is “to provide pro bono legal services to indigent citizens in Lagos state”, and the goal “is to expand access to justice and further secure the right of every citizen to justice, irrespective of his or her financial means”. The sign-on meeting, which held at the MUSON Centre was sequel to a stakeholders’ meeting held on November 8, 2012, by Governor Babatunde R. Fashola. A rough estimate of attendees at the event is about 1000.

    Interestingly, I had on this column on July 3, 2012, under the title: “Vote for Public interest litigation”, canvassed a more robust legal environment to help the less privileged members of our society, among other issues. So, I was excited when one of my teachers in mediation practice, Mrs Omotola Rotimi, the Director of the Office of the Public Defender, who presented the opening remarks at the event, invited me to the sign-on meeting. Of course the ceremony was a show-stopper for any person who has an interest in ‘bridging the justice gap’ as was eloquently canvassed by the chief host, Mr. Ade Ipaye, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, of Lagos State. A major highlight of the event was the presentation by Prof Lanre Fagbohun, the Lead Consultant/Principal Investigator, to the Ministry of Justice and its partners, titled: “Defining the Justice Gap – A presentation of the Needs Assessment Study Preliminary Report”.

    The presentation showed starkly the challenges of bridging the justice gap for a socio-economically backward country like Nigeria. Comments and observations by law firms and non-governmental organisations also indicated in clear details, experiences and challenges of pro bono practice. One interesting presentation was by a young lawyer, and what I will call a pro-bono activist, Mr. Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, who in his about five years of legal practice has impacted quite significantly, under the auspices of his NGO, “Prison Rights Advocacy Initiative”. As he shared his experience, I was enthused by his palpable excitement, at helping under-aged persons gain freedom from incarceration, among other successes. One commentator talked about his faith as the push for going to police and prison cells, under cover, to help free those under chains. That presenter asked participants to rise up to the challenge, for as he said, what is happening under the guise of our criminal justice system is mind boggling and un-imaginable.

    Another participant, Mr. Kola Oluwadare, in his experience presentation, raised fundamental challenges facing practitioners, some caused by state actors. The challenges include delays in the judicial process by the courts, poor knowledge of the essential sacrifice of pro bono practitioners by officials of the lowers courts and many other challenges in the criminal justice system. However, one interesting worthy practice on the part of Lagos government which he pointed out, was that the cost of filling a document for a pro bono matter can be waived. Many other commentators noted the challenge posed by the police, especially as prosecutors at the lower courts. The consensus from the commentaries was the need for more training for those at the vanguard of our criminal justice system, including judicial officers.

    Like in many other spheres of positive change, the Lagos state government is showing the way, to build a modern society. Excitingly, the Lagos state government is revolutionalising their judiciary. What started with the remodeling of the courts, enhanced remuneration and welfare for judges, among other indices, during the administration of the Asiwaju of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Governor of Lagos, has metamorphosed Governor Fashola into a total revamping of the process and philosophy of justice in the state. The Lagos Multi-Door Court (LMDC) and the Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism that have statutorily become integral parts of the judicial process in the state are further examples of this change for better. A training program as a Mediator, which I participated in, under the auspices of the LMDC, shows an impending convergence of social justice and legal justice.

    Towards building a culture of pro bono in Nigeria, let me quote again the eloquent erudition of Justice P.N. Bhangwatti, former Chief Justice of India, which was also cited in my 2012, article, “Vote for public interest litigation”; who he said: “… the majority of people who are living in almost subhuman existence in conditions of abject poverty and for whom life is a long unbroken story of want and destitution, notion of individual freedom and liberty, though representing some of the most cherished values of free society would sound empty words bandied about in the drawing room of the rich and well-to-do, and the only solution for making these rights meaningful to them is to remake the material conditions and usher in a new social order where socio-economic justice will inform all institutions of public life so that the preconditions of fundamental liberties of all may be secured.”

    The LPILP, among other initiatives of the Lagos government, hopefully will substantially answer to the rhetorical question of the eminent jurist, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, who said: “What is the value of say, fair hearing to the poor man who cannot pay a summons fees let alone afford the services of a counsel”. As one of the lead presenters, at LPILP, Prof Edwin Rekosh, the President of PILnet, (a global network for public interest law) said, the game plan is to spread this goodwill across Nigeria.

  • Council pushes pro bono to aid indigents’ access to justice

    Council pushes pro bono to aid indigents’ access to justice

    CONGESTION has always been a major flow of the prison system. It is worsened by the seeming helplessness of those concerned. This is because past efforts at prison de-congestion have not yielded positive results.

    Today, all the nation’s prisons, built ages ago, are not only devoid of basic facilities, they are over-crowded. Nigerian prison now pass as human destructive facilities as against being reformatory.

    One of the first prisons in the country – the Warri prison – was built in 1805; Azare 1816; Degema 1855 while the newest, Zing was built in 2011.

    Worse still, majority of inmates in these prisons are people, whose guilt has not been established. Some have spent years as awaiting trial inmates for offences that ordinarily, would have attracted months’ sentence.

    By a report of the nation’s prisons audit carried out in 2012 by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and some stakeholders, over 80 per cent of inmates in the nation’s about 234 prisons, are awaiting trial inmates.

    This, no doubt, reflects a failure on the part of the various components of the country’s criminal justice system.

    Aside that police’s investigations are largely crudely conducted, devoid of scientific analysis; but mostly dependent on forced confession, the pace of trial at the nation’s court is mostly, at snail speed. It becomes worse when an accused person is without legal representation.

    It is in this light that the move by the Legal Aid Council (LAC) to encourage a standardised, well-coordinated and documented pro bono (free legal) services in the country, is heart warming.

    LAC Chairman, Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), explained that his council, working with the new Legal Aid Act 2011, has introduced some radical reforms and designed a new framework to guide its activities till 2015.

    Speaking in Abuja, Ayorinde said: “We are now ready with a working paper to guide the council. It is entitled: Justice for all: The Attorney General’s outlook for the Nigerian Legal Aid Council. It has as its blueprint; ‘partnership, accessibility and sustainability.’ It is meant to guide the council from 2012 to 2015.”

    He said having realised that pro bono, is at the very heart of legal aid, his council has initiated plans to bring on board, the private Bar (private lawyers), to encourage them take up a number of pro bono cases, which LAC recommends. “Lawyers in the country already engage in pro bono services. But this time, we want to regulate the provision of pro bono services. We are setting up a system, in the form of collaboration between the private Bar and the LAC.

    “We have had consultations with the various Bars, individual lawyers and some Senior Advocates of Nigeria. They are all very excited about this prospect and are looking forward to working with us.

    “What we want to do is to properly regulate the provision of this service rather than leaving it to the discretion of the lawyers. The 2011 Act gives LAC the authority to empanel pro bono works for lawyers.

    “Its powers to regulate pro bono is contained in sections 14 and 15 of the Act. We shall be giving out case, we shall regulate and monitor.

    “We have put a system in place, in the form of peer review mechanism. We will not only give out cases, but also monitor the way they are handled.

    “We believe this will help decongest the over populated prisons,” Ayoride said.

    He said his council was planning a conference for September 19 in Lagos as part of its effort to further enlighten the public and other stakeholders about its plans to standardise pro bono practice in the country.

    Ayorinde said the conference, with the theme: “Access to justice: Advancing the frontiers of pro bono,” will serve as a platform for the involvement of all stakeholders in the access to justice and justice delivery systems “to meet with us.” Another member of LAC management board, Adebayo Adelodun (SAN) said his council’s core responsibility is ensuring access to justice by the less privileged, for which pro bono serves as a veritable vehicle.

    “Yes, some lawyers provide free services in some cases. But it is the intention of the council to achieve optimum level in the rendering of free legal services in the country. Today, many senior lawyers are not involved in pro bono. They are the ones, who should be,” Adelodun said. Adelodun, the Chairman, of the Conference Planning Committee, explained that this year’s is designed to build on the gains of the council’s maiden conference held in November last year in Abuja.

    He said the Lagos conference is aimed at sustaining the awareness and interest of the public in the activities of the LAC in its efforts directed at bringing justice closer to the masses of this country. LAC’s Director General, Mrs Joy Bob-Manuel said, more than ever before, the 2011 Act has placed more responsibility on the council to act for thr masses. “It is not enough for lawyers to say they do pro bono. There should be recod. That is why we are empowered under the Act, to empanel and monitor cases where free legal services are rendered. Access to justice is at the heart of the doctrine of rule of law. Poverty should not deprive citizens access to justice, to court and to legal representation,” Mrs Bob-Manuel said

     

  • Pro bono: How prepared are lawyers?

    Pro bono: How prepared are lawyers?

    The question as to whether lawyers should be made to provide free legal services has again been thrown up as Lagos State has initiated a move to ensure that lawyers in the state are encouraged to provide pro bono services, but in a structured manner. Lawyers have hailed the move and suggested that other states should act likewise. Adebisi Onanuga reports.

    The Constitution, under Section 36, provides for the right to fair hearing. Also in the case of Adigun v. Attorney-General of Oyo State (1987) 1 NWLR part 53 at page 678, the Supreme Court defines the right to fair hearing as including the ability to obtain professional legal assistance.

    But, unfortunately, many indigent and illiterate Nigerians find it difficult, most times, to assert this right because of their inability to hire lawyers when necessary. Poverty and unemployment have worsened the people’s lack of access to justice.

    This worrisome development must have informed the new initiative by the Lagos State government to encourage pro bono legal services by lawyers.

    Pro bono refers to legal services offered free of charge to the public. Unlike volunteerism, pro bono services leverage the skills of legal professionals to help those who are unable to afford a lawyer.

    Pro bono services help marginalised communities and underserved populations – children, the poor and the elderly – who are often denied access to justice.

    On December 28, last year, the 12-man committee, headed by Prof Lanre Fagbohun, set up by the state to draft a manual on how pro bono can be structured to work for the disadvantaged in the society, submitted a draft of the manual.

    The draft provides suggestions on how pro bono could be structured, resourced, directed and supported to provide better access to justice for residents of Lagos through the Lagos Public Interest Law Partnership (LPILP).

    The LPILP was conceived as a public and private collaborative and supportive legal service project, established to enhance access to justice and address other legal needs of the indigent, disadvantaged and marginalised residents of Lagos.

    The initiative is part of the reforms being introduced into the administration of justice in the state. It is intended to ensure equal access to justice by all, notwithstanding the social standing.

    Under the new arrangement, lawyers in the state would be encouraged to render voluntarily, at least 50 hours of pro bono work yearly; and as may be determined from time to time and in consultation with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). The service would be provided in all instances, including criminal, civil and administrative matters, where legal aid may be limited.

    It is also the intention of the government to build a platform comprising the public sector, the private sector and the people to ensure that law and order are upheld, and access to justice is guaranteed to every resident, irrespective of means, sex, ethnic group, place of origin, religion or political affiliation.

    The need for free legal service for the indigent is not alien in this clime. Viewed from the stand-point of access to justice, it is universally accepted that access to justice by deserving and disadvantaged parties, who have meritorious legal issues, is not a privilege, but a right.

    But, despite the growing interest in pro bono globally, it is often provided by lawyers as ad-hoc legal service. In Nigeria, pro bono is done more by law firms and lawyers who are human rights activists and constitutional ones.

    It is this group of lawyers and activists that are visible in the judicial sector, initiating court processes for those who are abused or are denied of their rights by the privileged.

    Another group comprises government agencies, such as the Nigerian Legal Aid Council and Consumer Rights Protection Council (established by the Federal Government), Office of the Public Defenders (OPD) and Directorate of Citizens’ Rights, an agency of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.

    There are also the Consumer Rights Protection Unit, a Human Rights Protection Unit and the Citizens Mediation Centre offering free and skilled mediation to citizens and providing alternative dispute resolution on legal matters in Lagos State.

    The practice today is that most lawyers do not engage in free legal practice except those intending to apply for the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title, for whom it is mandatory to have carried out such services before being conferred with the title.

    Even where lawyers voluntarily provide such free services, the cases are not structured and most lawyers engage in the service to boost their ego, and use the platform to solicit financial reward from international organisations and for cheap popularity.

    The Lagos Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye, said the philosophy behind the state’s provision of pro bono services is to ensure that everyone has equal access to justice.

    He added that the orientation of the state government has changed and more emphasis is now placed on rendering free legal services to the indigent and disadvantaged.

    Ipaye noted that access to justice by deserving, disadvantaged self-represented parties who have meritorious legal issues is classified as a right for all residents of the state.

    But how commendable is this initiative? Are lawyers in support of the scheme that seeks to take away their time without any pecuniary rewards? Prof Akin Oyebode, Femi Falana (SAN), Dr. Akinpelu Lewis, Chief James Ikechukwu and Chair, NBA, Ikorodu, Lagos, Sahid Owosile do not see anything wrong with the initiative. They praised the state’s effort.

    Oyebode described pro bono as a way of ensuring commitment and interest of poor people to the vitality of the legal system.

    “So, these are things that colonisation had truncated. We have to really decolonise the Nigerian legal culture for such things like pro bono legal service,” he said.

    He added that the idea of free legal service all over the world is to empathise with the poor.

    Falana argued that free legal services are very much desirable in a country where majority of the population is economically disabled and only the few, who are rich, are able to enforce their rights.

    He said the efforts of the Legal Aid Council, National Human Rights Commission (at the federal level )and the Office of the Public Defender and Mediation Centre (in Lagos State) as well as human rights groups were not enough to meet the legal demand of the vast majority of poor and ignorant people in the country.

    Falana noted that in the rural areas, in particular, conscious efforts are needed to encourage lawyers to provide pro bono services to the rural folk. He said the merits and implication for the judicial system is that the victims of injustice are going to get redress in the interest of the justice.

    He added that cases of human rights violations could now be challenged in court by any concerned citizen or organisation, without showing any special interest as was the case in the past.

    Every indigent person, he further stated, can now demand for legal representation in court by right. He said there was the need to promote pro bono to meet the expectation of the new legal regime in the state.

    Lewis also supports the pro bono initiative. He said there was nothing wrong with the step being taken by the state.

    “In fact one should praise those behind this initiative because of its possible benefits to the indigent populace. Rendering pro bono services are ways lawyers can serve the society without seeking to be compensated. But I hope lawyers in the state will not be compelled to undertake pro bono cases by the government for whatever reasons. The beauty of it is when it is undertaken willingly,” he said.

    Ikechukwu praised the idea of encouraging lawyers to engage in pro bono practice once in a while. He observed that the state’s intervention notwithstanding, many lawyers have been engaging in the provision of free legal services.

    Ikechukwu, however, cautioned against using the initiative for purposes that would defeat its concept.

    “I hope this is not a plan to make pro bono practice a pre-condition for enjoying the state’s services. I am just thinking aloud, but I pray it doesn’t turn out that way because it could form a basis for legislation. People will sue to assert their rights. So, I don’t think the state needs to make it conditional.”

    Owosile described the initiative as a welcome development, the NBA having endorsed it. According to him, the next step is to move it to a higher level since the Lagos State government, the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Public Defender are committed to it.

    “It is an internationally recognised service. But, you know, whatever comes to Nigeria, there is the possibility of abuse. There is the possibility that someone who can afford to pay for the service of a lawyer may also want to enjoy the service of a lawyer who is hired and paid for on his behalf just because he knows that the government is there to introduce a lawyer to him that would take over the case.

    “The merit you have in it is that there is a world-class relationship in the sense that you are not denied justice because of who you are. But once you have a case, you can go to the pro bono office in the Office of the Public Defender, introduce yourself, swear to an affidavit of means and they would verify and once it is known that you actually deserve it, you will get it.

    He said the service in Lagos would be structured to ensure that no lawyer would be forced to provide the service.

    “Those who are going to be involved are going to register for it. It is not as if we are going to be forced to provide the service. It is volition and something you have to volunteer yourself for and very many lawyers are already interested in that,” he said.