social lawyers
The NLU Delhi students fighting for the continued employment at NLU Delhi of up to 55 housekeeping staff, via a third party contractor, have made an emotional video appeal and a written rebuttal to the university’s claim that it had “taken a decision to help on a purely humanitarian basis” by making “arrangements of their employment in the nearby areas”.
Aparna Mittal, who had left the partnership of AZB & Partners in September 2017, has started a consultancy focusing on gender, policy and law.
The social justice bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit, set up by the previous chief justice of India, justice HL Dattu on 12 December 2014 has now officially ceased, and the cases which were part-heard before that bench, have been distributed to other benches.
Every Chief Justice of India (CJI), soon after taking over, would first try to get a grip over the bench composition, which was determined according to the requirements of his predecessor.
Opponents of the Aadhaar scheme have stepped up their campaign to expose instances of contempt of court in the Aadhaar case, which is pending for a resolution by the yet-to-be constituted Supreme Court’s Constitution bench.
Despite suffering from adjournments and not having been able to close a single case since starting nearly a year ago, as reported last week by SCOI Reports, on Friday (September 4) the social justice bench continued its work with justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit hearing six cases in 40 minutes after 2 pm.
The Supreme Court’s social justice bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit heard seven cases between 2 and 4.15 p.m on Friday, August 28 but has failed to dispose of a single petition since it was set up in 2014.
Shireen Irani – executive director of online network for pro bono legal assistance i-Probono , tells the Hindu that the “push for volunteering” at the Indian legal workplace in the last three years has evened out the number of male and female lawyers registering on her website, to volunteer.
The site is free to use for people posting pro bono work and lawyers offering help, and requires lawyers to register with basic information including areas of expertise and speaking language.
Apart from acting as a bridge where people in need and lawyers offering pro bono assistance liaise on their own terms, i-Probono also assists the International Justice Mission with finding lawyers to conduct sessions on sensitising legal professionals to women victims of sex trafficking, oppression and slavery. [The Hindu Businessline]
If you didn’t know the exact address of the office, you’d be certain to miss it in the busy North Mumbai suburb. There are no signs and Michelle Mendonca’s business card, as legal director of the International Justice Mission (IJM), merely lists a PO box.
The only giveaway that you are at the correct place is a security keypad locking an unmarked door inside the building.
What drives successful lawyers and graduates to forge a career path in civil society despite myriad challenges and the financial hit? And why are there not more of them? We ask them to find out.