Programs

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Access to Justice

Legal Aid

Bulgarian Public Defender Office: The Ministry of Justice of Bulgaria,
working with the Open Society Institute's Justice Initiative, has recently
opened the first public defender office in Bulgaria and the second in
Eastern Europe. An ISLP volunteer with considerable experience as the
supervisor of a federal public defender office in the United States spent
two months during the summer 2003 in Bulgaria assisting with the opening of
this office He has agreed to provide follow-up assistance later in the year.

Cambodian Defenders Project: In May 2002, an ISLP volunteer, a federal judge
who has been both a law professor and a public defender and who has had
experience in Southeast Asia, conducted a training program for the staff
attorneys of the Cambodian Defenders Project in effective trial techniques
on behalf of the International Human Rights Law Group.

Volunteer Bob Kinney with the staff of the Public Defenders Office, Bulgaria.

Lithuanian Public Defender Office: ISLP, at the request of the Open Society Institute Justice Initiative, provided an experienced public defender to assist it with strengthening the operation of the first public defender's offices in Eastern Europe, located in Lithuania, for six weeks during the summer of 2003.

Promotion of Pro Bono Abroad

South African Pro Bono Program: ISLP is working with the South African NGO Age-in-Action to develop an organized pro bono program with South African law firms. Two ISLP volunteers, including one who set up and directed the only bar association pro bono program in New Jersey and another who worked with pro bono attorneys as head of a state public defender office, met with lawyers, law firms and government officials in South Africa in January 2004 to discuss assistance for Age-in-Action and a broader program to promote pro bono. Their meetings led to offers of assistance for Age-in-Action and an invitation from government officials to develop a plan for assisting with the development of pro bono programs in South Africa.

The Socio-Legal Information Centre (SLIC): As noted above under "Human Rights and Social Justice," SLIC is a network of public interest law centers in India that provides legal aid to the poor and assistance to victims of discrimination and human rights violations. ISLP lawyers have recruited pro bono research and writing assistance from firms in London, Paris, Milan and Cologne, as well as the United States.