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eNotes - August 2006
Vance Center and Mexican Law School
Host Videoconference on Pro Bono
In April, the Vance Center and the
Centro de Investigación y Docencia
Económica Law School (CIDE)
collaborated on a videoconference on
professional responsibility and pro
bono practice in the legal profession.
Co-hosted by Alejandro Posadas,
director of the Legal Studies division
at the law school, and Elise Colomer,
a Vance Center staff member, the
videoconference focused on the history
of pro bono in the United States and
the challenges of institutionalizing
pro bono and professional
responsibility programs in Mexico.
The conference was attended by a group
of CIDE law students and faculty on
campus. New York panelists included
Todd Crider, a partner at Simpson
Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Vance
Center Committee chair; Rubén Kraiem
of Covington & Burling LLP; Taisa
Markus of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley &
McCloy LLP; Antonia Stolper of
Shearman & Sterling LLP; and Ms.
Colomer.
Panelists presented the history of pro
bono work and the evolution of
professional ethics in the United
States as well as the current
standards that govern the legal
profession. They also discussed the
ways in which U.S. law firms have
integrated public interest work into
their practices. A question and answer
session between panelists and CIDE law
school students followed the
presentations.
The videoconference is just one effort
in a growing movement to establish
professional responsibility, public
interest and pro bono programs in
Mexico. It has been challenging to
establish such work there, Mr. Posadas
said, because the legal profession is
not well organized and there is no
support structure for public interest
work within the firms.
Also, while
the law school at CIDE tries to
promote public interest work among its
students, many of the lawyers who
teach at the school do not actually
engage in such work themselves. The
videoconference was important for the
students, Mr. Posadas said, because it
allowed them to meet practicing
corporate attorneys who value pro bono
work.
"As an
institution, CIDE is committed to
promoting high professional standards,
as well as high standards of public
interest," Mr. Posadas said. "To have
that commitment reinforced by
prominent lawyers in the United
States, who were speaking perfect
Spanish, really got the message across
to the students."
Click here to read about similar
Vance Center projects.
The Vance Center organizes
technical assistance projects to
support law firms, bar associations,
law schools and social justice
organizations in Latin America and
Africa that use law in service of the
public good. To learn more about this
work, visit the
Vance Center website or contact
Elise Colomer Grimaldi.
Back to eNotes
August 2006
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