OP Jindal University
New Delhi [India], April 16: Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Chief Justice of India while delivering the valedictory address at the American Bar Association (ABA) India Conference 2024 observed, “Philanthropy is considered contrary to distributive justice as it creates a certain social hierarchy and does so in an arbitrary manner. It is an unreliable medium of change because it is subject to individual motivations and charitable impulses because of its non-institutional uncoordinated character. So much as we speak about the importance of philanthropy within our own profession, it’s important for us to understand the flip side and to overcome the flip side by seeking to institutionalize what otherwise becomes the ad-hoc individual initiates.”
The ABA India Conference 2024 also witnessed the establishment of the Indian Law Firms Pro Bono Club (ILFPC). Pro bono services have continued to remain a thorny issue in India. Despite the Constitution mandating the State to provide free legal services, a slew of judicial and legislative advancements and several Government initiatives to bolster pro bono services (like Tele-Law, Pro Bono Legal Services, Nyaya Mitra Scheme, Nyaya Bandhu, to name a few), the demand for the pro bono services continue to surpass the supply.
With over 50 million cases pending in the country and the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbating the need for legal aid, it is time we think of innovative ways in which the India’s legal fraternity can address the growing need for pro bono public services in India. It is in this background that the leading law firms of the country, namely AZB & Partner, JSA Advocates and Solicitors, K Law, Nishith Desai Associates, Saraf & Partners, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, Trilegal and S&R Associates, announced creation of ‘Indian Law Firms Pro Bono Club’ (ILFPC) at the second edition of American Bar Association India Conference 2024 in the presence of Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, the Chief Justice of India.
Pratibha Jain, Head of Strategy & Group General Counsel, Everstone Group; Chair, American Bar Association, India Committee also quoted, “Eight of the premier law firms of the country have decided to come together to formally commit to and create an Indian Law Firms’ Pro Bono Club and since all our partners for this conference, we decide to use this platform to announce it. It would automatically convert what is currently individual initiatives of select law firms into a collaborative one in which each member recognizes its institutional obligation to take up pro bono matters on a firm-wide basis.”
Formation of a profession-led club like ILFPC would bring in such a fundamental change. Given that the membership of ILFPC would only be open to premier law firms that intend to support pro bono work on a firm-wide basis, it would automatically convert what is essentially an individual initiative of select law firms into a collaborative one in which each member recognizes its institutional obligation to take up pro bono matters on a firm-wide basis.
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