News & Events

Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation e-Newsletter (August 2008)

The work of the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation has been incredibly rewarding during the past six months.  The Foundation continues to improve the lives of the world’s poor and disenfranchised, strengthens the social entrepreneur movement, and helps Lex Mundi member firms and their lawyers remain at the forefront of the legal profession.

Thanks to the generosity of Lex Mundi member law firms and their lawyers as well as the “Friends of the Foundation” contributors, the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation has swept past an important milestone.  Since its inception in 2006, the Foundation has arranged for Lex Mundi lawyers to provide free legal services to social entrepreneurs on over 300 separate legal projects.  These projects have engaged 70 member firms located in 40 countries around the world and 31 states in the U.S.

Below are two recent projects that highlight the exciting pro bono work being done by Lex Mundi member firms and the impact Lex Mundi lawyers are having on the lives of the world’s poor and disenfranchised.

Team from Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho, Reksodiputro Helps Mercy Corps Create Indonesia’s First Microfinance Wholesale Bank

Mercy Corps is a US-based nonprofit that works to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.  Mercy Corps is one of the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation’s partner organizations, and its General Counsel, Mary Chaffin, is on the Foundation’s Advisory Board.

Using a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mercy Corps is leading a consortium of investors, which also includes IFC, Cordaid and HTF, to create Indonesia’s first microfinance wholesale bank – a “Bank of Banks”.  It aims to bring stability to Indonesian microfinance institutions and allow them to expand their services beyond microloans to savings accounts, insurance, mortgage financing, remittance services and mobile banking.  Mercy Corps believes that this innovative new institution will help to move tens of millions of people out of poverty in the next decade and create a new economic-development model.

Responding to the request of the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho, Reksodiputro (ABNR), Lex Mundi’s member firm for Indonesia, provided invaluable legal advice and guidance in helping Mercy Corps establish the Bank of Banks. The first of its kind in Indonesia, the Bank of Banks posed a number of legal challenges. The ABNR team of lawyers included Ms. Yanny M. Suryaretina, Ms. Chandrawati Dewi, Ms. Dikend Rahmawaty, Ms. Yuliana, Mr. Freddy Karyadi, Mr. Debu Batara Lubis, and Mr. Ferry Madian.

Delighted with the quality of the legal work, Mary Chaffin said, “Ferry Madian and his team at ABNR have been instrumental in providing the critical support necessary to the success of this project and its potential to lift massive numbers of the poor permanently out of poverty.

Ferry Madian commented, “We were privileged to have been selected to assist Mercy Corps in this project for the alleviation of poverty.  It became interesting when the project was about the banking industry. It then became challenging when ABNR was informed that it will be assisting in the creation of a microfinance wholesale bank, a unique form of banking for Indonesia.  The entire project has been an amazing experience and a good learning process for the ABNR team of lawyers.”

Alston & Bird and Bowman Gilfillan Assist SELF to Bring Solar Technology to Three Rural Schools in South Africa

The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation was introduced to the Solar Electric Light Fund (“SELF”) through one of its partner/collaborators.  Using the latest solar-electric technology, SELF helps rural families achieve energy self-sufficiency and make the leap from the 19th to the 21st Century.

The Foundation reached out to Eric Weingarten of Alston & Bird LLP, Lex Mundi’s member firm for Georgia, USA, whose practice includes renewable energy.  Eric agreed to help SELF draft and negotiate a contract with a South African company to supply and install off-grid solar systems to three public secondary schools in the rural Amathole Region of Eastern Cape Province in South Africa.  The new power systems will provide electricity for basic applications such as lighting and audio-visual equipment to increase general educational opportunities at the schools. 

The Foundation also arranged for Claire van Zuylen and Claire Tucker of Bowman Gilfillan, Lex Mundi’s member firm for South Africa, to provide valuable local counsel by reviewing the contract for a variety of legal issues under South African law.

Robert Freling, Executive Director of SELF, stated, “Eric Weingarten…was extraordinarily helpful to SELF in connection with our solar school project in South Africa.  Eric was extremely diligent and thoughtful at each stage of the process.  He always treated SELF with the same professionalism as he would any paying client of Alston & Bird.  The fact that Eric has a strong interest in and knowledge about renewable energy made working with him all the more pleasant and interesting.”

The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation is proud to be serving as a partner supporting the work of the prestigious UN Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor.  Co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, the Commission is the first global initiative focused specifically on the link between exclusion, poverty and the law. 

Several Lex Mundi member firms provided valuable pro bono research and input that was used in preparing the Commission’s Final Report, which was released in June.  The participating firms included C. R. & F. Rojas Abogados (Bolivia); Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. (India); Bowman Gilfillan (South Africa); Estudio Olaechea (Peru); Amir & Amir Law Associates (Bangladesh); Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa & Ankomah (Ghana); and FJ&G de Saram (Sri Lanka). 

Estudio Olaechea was also recently named by LATINLAWYER Magazine as one of the top firms in Latin America for pro bono work.  The publication specifically cited the firm’s role in providing pro bono legal support to the UN Commission.

To learn more about the UN Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor and to view a copy of the Final Report, please visit http://www.undp.org/legalempowerment.

The 2007-2008 Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation “Friends of the Foundation” Giving Campaign came to a successful close earlier this year.  Through the generous donations made by over 95 Lex Mundi lawyers and other individuals as well as 11 Lex Mundi member firms, the Foundation reached its $100,000 goal.  These funds will help support the work of the Foundation over the next three years.  To view a complete list of contributors, please visit the “Our Benefactors” web page at http://www.lexmundiprobono.org/lexmundiprobono/Our_Benefactors.asp.

Over the past six months, several other important events have taken place:

• The Skoll Foundation signed on as a partner/collaborator of the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation
• The Foundation worked with America Forward to persuade the U.S. Presidential candidates to include social entrepreneurship on their respective agendas
• The Foundation sponsored a symposium on legal issues for social entrepreneurs at the Skoll World Forum at Oxford and taped an interview for Social Edge
• The Foundation and lawyers from Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, Lex Mundi’s member firm for North Carolina, presented a seminar on legal issues for social enterprise at the conference for Echoing Green Fellows at Duke University
• The Foundation and lawyers from Foley Hoag LLP, Lex Mundi’s member firm for Massachusetts, led a session on legal issues at the Social Enterprise Summit in Boston
• The Foundation and lawyers from Morrison & Foerster LLP, Lex Mundi’s member firm for California, participated in the UC Berkeley Global Social Venture Competition
• The Foundation attended the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur Summit in Zurich

To view a complete list of recent news events and announcements, please visit the “News and Events” web page at http://www.lexmundiprobono.org/lexmundiprobono/News.asp.

The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation is a 501c3 affiliate of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms.  (For more information about Lex Mundi, please visit www.lexmundi.com.)  Utilizing the talents and resources of Lex Mundi’s powerful network of 160 top-tier commercial law firms in 100 countries and 560 offices around the globe, representing approximately 21,000 lawyers, the Foundation matches experienced lawyers who provide first-class legal services to social entrepreneurs on a pro bono basis, enabling them to carry out their missions of positive social change to improve communities and the lives of the poor and disenfranchised.

The Foundation defines social entrepreneurs as individuals and organizations that use entrepreneurial and innovative ideas to improve communities and the lives of the poor and disenfranchised.  Because Lex Mundi member firms are leading, full-service law firms, they have the experience and expertise to provide critically important assistance to social entrepreneurs, thus helping them become successful agents of positive social change.

The Foundation is a “matchmaker”; it does not practice law.  The Foundation identifies effective social entrepreneurs through referrals by its partners/collaborators.  These organizations include the Skoll Foundation, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Acumen Fund, Draper Richards Foundation, Global Fund for Children, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Echoing Green, Lemelson Foundation and Mercy Corps. For a complete list of the Foundation’s collaborators, please visit www.lexmundiprobono.org.  The Foundation is constantly exploring additional collaborative relationships with potential partners that support innovative and entrepreneurial social change makers. 

The Foundation is unique in that there is no other global organization that is focused exclusively on providing pro bono legal services to social entrepreneurs.  The Foundation aspires to become one of the world’s premier pro bono legal services organizations and to reach many more social entrepreneurs.  It is off to a great start and continues to build capacity and expand the volume, value and impact of the pro bono services provided.

On behalf of the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, we thank everyone who has been part of our success to date.

Carl Anduri, President
David Roll, Managing Director
Chloe Holderness, Deputy Managing Director
Ben Greer, Vice President