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Untangling Islamic Law and Women’s Rights
Rawan Mohammed and Siti AminahWhat is the relationship between Islamic law and the rights of women? Does Sharia justify violence against women… or guarantee their protection? Speaking before a capacity audience at PILnet’s New York office on March 22, four PILnet Fellows—all Muslim women with a deep knowledge of Islamic law—addressed these questions and others as they described the legal status and the daily reality of women in their home countries of Indonesia, Jordan, Nigeria, and Palestine. Read more »
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In China, Charting a Course for Public Interest Lawyers
Public interest law is alive and well in China, evidenced by the success of the recent Chinese Style Pro Bono Legal Service Conference, held on Hainan Island 12–13 April 2012. Read more »
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PILnet and Law Firm Partners Hold Flagship Ethics Course for Russian Law Students
The legal profession in Russia is largely unregulated and professional ethics are not widely taught in universities. In the last few years, however, the landscape has begun to change and there have been moves towards improved regulation of the profession. Read more »
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PILnet Co-sponsors Ethics Essay Competition for Russian Law Students
Update: Competition Winners Announced! Russian law students are invited to submit papers on the subject of legal ethics for an essay competition. Thirty winners will be selected for an intensive training to be held in Moscow 9-12 November, 2011, entitled Professional Responsibility and Ethics in the Global Legal Market. Read more »
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Who Owns My Land? Findings from a Nationwide Survey on Chinese Farmers' Land Rights
On May 2 in New York, PILnet hosted the presentation "Who Owns My Land?", which highlighted findings from a nationwide survey on Chinese farmers' land rights undertaken by Landesa (formerly Rural Development Institute), in collaboration with China Renmin University and Michigan State University. Read more »
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Significant Progress in Civil Legal Aid Reforms in Russia
When PILnet (then the Public Interest Law Institute) organized its first public discussion in Russia dedicated to issues of legal aid reform about six years ago, the subject was something that hardly anyone was willing to discuss. Read more »
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Facing South
Following mounting successes in Budapest, Paris, and Berlin, PILnet’s European Pro Bono Forum is moving south this year to Madrid, Spain, a city and country where pro bono as a concept is still young. But legal social responsibility has been present for centuries and so pro bono has quickly gained support at the highest levels of the legal community. Read more »
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Looking Back on the Birth of a PILnet Clearinghouse
Until just a few years ago, pro bono was a foreign concept to many in Russia. But the access of NGOs to affordable legal services has became more critical as new registration requirements and complex tax regulations have made the legal environment for NGOs in Russia more challenging. Read more »
views from 30,000 feet: reflections from PILnet's executive director
Finding the Words for Pro Bono in China
How do you translate pro bono in China? That simple question was the theme of a recent conference PILnet sponsored with one of our partners in China, the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV), in Hainan—the island province off the southern coast of mainland China. PILnet, with its Chinese partners, has been gradually building the field of public interest law in China over the past decade. More recently, we have been trying to engage commercial law firms as supporters of that effort. Read more »
featured fellow:
Folusho Shado
Reading and Rights in Nigeria: A PILnet Interview
PILnet: One centerpiece of the PILnet Fellowship is the legal project each Fellow develops aimed at advancing justice in their home country. Yours is already having an impact in Nigeria—can you fill us in?
Folusho Shado: The project I developed concerns the right to education in Nigeria. This is a right that's on the books here but the requirement that all citizens receive a basic education is really just an aspiration. I wanted to address that gap and find ways to close it.
The project’s main strategies involve educational outreach, advocacy, policy analysis, and legal action. A sister organization, the Orderly Society Trust, has already taken on the educational component. They’ve started about ten alternative schools in different areas and have begun a literacy program targeted at adults. Classes are free and they’re offered at times when adults are able to attend.
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