Pro bono publico usually called as ‘pro bono’ is used for professional work undertaken voluntarily without payment by the professionals with the specific skills (though it generally get associated with the legal pros) to provide services to those who are unable to afford them. It is for the public good, for the benefit of an individual, group or community on a basis of equality to ensure that opportunities are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. Our sociolegal awareness program is designed to increase awareness, access to legal advice and help pro bono in legal matters to those who cannot afford it. There is no fee for our legal support program nor for any legal advice or information provided by our participating lawyers.
Lawyers associated with us provide information and basic legal advice without any expectation of any representation. This program does not guarantee that our pro bono lawyers can service your every request of representation since we always prefer to offer our legal services for underprivileged people in their community oriented matters. Indian constitution have also acknowledged and made specific provisions for pro bono legal services. Article 39 A in the constitution of India directs the state to provide free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society to promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity. The provisions of article 14 and 22 (2) of the constitution further ensures equality before the law. It goes without saying that the state is under constitutional obligation to provide legal services to the persons who do have means to represent themselves in the courts. We believe that free legal service is an inalienable element of reasonable, fair and just procedure for without it a person suffering from economic or other disabilities would be deprived of the opportunity for securing justice.
It’s worth mentioning that, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, SDG-16 underscores the obligation of state to ensure equal access to justice for all. Based on this obligation, our department of justice has created a database of lawyers and some of the pro bono lawyers of India willing to provide their services to litigants identified under Section 12 of The Legal Services Authority Act of 1987. In consonance with the aforesaid, we have a group of lawyers across India to provide various legal services to the needy people. Our endeavor is to provide pro bono services even at the apex body, The Supreme Court.
We firmly believe that legal aid is essential to guaranteeing equal access to justice for all, as provided for by article 6.3 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding criminal law cases, especially for citizens who do not have sufficient financial means. The provision of legal aid to clients by governments will increase the likelihood within court proceedings of being assisted by legal professionals for free (or at a lower cost) or of receiving financial aid.
Though we can not deny the fact
of today that legal aid aims to create more equity in the sphere of legal
practices, aid offered is often limited in its quality or its social impact by
economic constraints that dictate who can access these services and where the
aforementioned services are geographically located, but it’s a beginning we appreciate.
