Projects

KNUST Law Dean Stephen Offei, Professor Elizabeth Archampong and KNUST law students with books donated by Bell Canada as part of the project.

Canadian Lawyers Abroad has entered into a partnership with the KNUST Faculty of Law in Kumasi, Ghana and the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa to establish a pilot University Legal Clinic at the KNUST Faculty of Law. Through the University Legal Clinic, marginalized groups in Kumasi will receive legal assistance and information that they would not otherwise be able to access or afford. Moreover, KNUST law students can receive critical real-life training and be inspired to use these new-found skills to further serve their own community. By providing access to desperately needed legal information and services, this project will empower poor and marginalized groups, in particular women and youth and help them become and engaged members of society. In the long-term, by promoting the rule of law and protecting human rights, this project will help reduce poverty and promote economic development in Ghana. For more information about the project click here.

African and Canadian Women’s Human Rights Project

The African and Canadian Women’s Human Rights Project (ACWHRP) was happily housed at CLA for the first phase of its work on its criminalization of marital rape and customary law project. The ACWHRP involved a collaborative partnership of African women’s human rights NGO’s and academics from Ghana, Kenya and Malawi working with Canadian human rights experts. ACWHRP held a very successful customary law and marital rape workshop in Kenya in February 2010 and produced research papers looking at the relationship between customary law and women’s rights and the legal treatment of marital rape. These papers can be found here.

During its first phase, the ACWHRP was generously supported by: the Department of Justice Canada; the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Fasken Martineau, and the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

ACWHRP has now incorporated as an independent non-profit organization, and will continue its human rights work independent of CLA. ACWHRP is appreciative of CLA’s support and the opportunity to have grown at CLA, and CLA is proud to have housed ACWHRP during its initial growth period. Both CLA and ACWHRP look forward to continuing to work together in the future. ACWHRP is now operating under the new name, “the equality effect”. For more information about the equality effect and its projects, please see the equality effect’s website.

Kosovo Supreme Court Reports

CLA-ACE was very pleased with the success of its pilot pro bono project with the Kosovo Law Center and Heenan Blaikie LLP to produce the Kosovo Supreme Court Reports. This project was designed to increase the transparency of Kosovo’s legal system, improve the written product of the Supreme Court and lower courts, contribute to safeguarding the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, and allow Kosovars to follow and understand important case law. The project received considerable attention and was the subject of an article in the May 2006 edition of The Lawyers Weekly. Read the Lawyers Weekly article about CLA and this project.

To read more about our past projects, check out our Project Archives.

PRO BONO PROJECTS

CLA is always looking to build partnerships with the legal community. These partnerships can take a variety of shapes. For example, there may be opportunities for law firms or in-house counsel to become directly involved in the substantive work of a project. If you are interested in discussing possible opportunities, please contact CLA’s Executive Director, Catherine McKenna.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

Canadian Lawyers Abroad has partnered with the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP) to help identify Canadian lawyers (speaking French or English with Civil or Common Law training) who would be interested in working on ISLP international pro bono projects.

The ISLP provides volunteer legal services by skilled and experienced attorneys to advance democracy and the rule of law, protect human rights, and promote equitable economic development worldwide. Through the pro bono work of retired and active practitioners, working independently and in law firms, ISLP helps governments and citizens develop and implement legal reforms, assists programs that advance the social and economic well-being of people in developing countries, and builds the capacity of local organizations and professionals to meet the needs of their communities.

To find out more and to register as a possible ISLP volunteer, please see the volunteer section on their website. Please note that to register as a volunteer, lawyers must have 15 or more years of experience. In specific cases, the ISLP may seek less experienced lawyers.