This video gives viewers information about Lawyers Without Borders which is a nonprofit organization promoting the rule of law around the world by managing lawyers that offer their services to communities. Ropes and Gray is a global law firm that has been working with this organization since 2015 as part of their pro bono division in Africa. This came about when the firm was looking into expanding their volunteering program for their lawyers globally while Lawyers Without Borders was developing a strategy to tackle human and wildlife trafficking that is a huge problem in Africa.
Video Source A year into this congenial relationship between the firm and the nonprofit organization, a convoy was sent to Kenya to facilitate training to help curb the wildlife poaching crisis. The team assisted the locals to learn how to collect admissible evidence through several collection techniques that will be useful during the prosecution process. What the Ropes and Gray team realized was that the legal system in Kenya is lagging in simple technological advancements and they had to adapt to teaching evidence collection techniques through unfamiliar methods. After the success of the training program in Kenya, the firm’s team then went to Tanzania to help combat the problems faced with human trafficking that encompasses issues relating to forced labor, involuntary servitude, and sex trafficking. With the convoy facilitating this training in Tanzania, it helped the country’s justice system delegates to understand the depth of the Anti Human Trafficking Act and how it could help eradicate this crisis by helping people with prosecuting perpetrators and to highlight that this is a global crisis and there is an international community that is committed to developing the laws aimed at protecting communities all over the world.
One of the purposes of this collaboration between the firm and the nonprofit organization is to provide support and extensive training of local legal professionals so that these countries rely less on international resources to improve their ability to tackle serious issues such as human trafficking. In 2018, the program went back to Kenya but focused on training for terrorism-related attacks to offer a different approach to this crisis that is prevalent in Nairobi. The program that was implemented by the firm and the nonprofit organization is a learning experience for all those that are involved in it and it is a great way for lawyers who specialize like divorce attorneys to do something unique to what they are used to. The Lawyers Without Borders initiative to incorporate legal services to give back to communities has helped the lawyers and the local communities while addressing a myriad of key issues in the African continent.
So, if you are a lawyer who wants to use your profession as a tool to affect positive change in society then Lawyers Without Borders is the right kind of nonprofit organization for you.
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