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Pro Bono Declaration for the Americas Steering Committee assembled

September 22, 2005

The Pro Bono Declaration for the Americas is both a statement of principle and a plan of action for expanding the commitment of lawyers to provide legal services to the poor and underprivileged in the Americas.

Following the Latin American Strategy Summit, a committee of lawyers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Los Angeles, and New York prepared a draft Declaration to be circulated among bar associations, private law firms, and NGOs.  The document is intended to spark national debates on the moral and ethical challenges posed by the persistence of legal inequalities in democratic societies and on the legal profession's responsibility to address them.

After soliciting diverse perspectives from throughout the Americas, the Declaration will be presented and debated by delegates to the Fourth Regional Conference on Access to Justice and Pro Bono in Mexico City in October 2006.

Members of the steering committee include:

Juan E. Cambiaso, Argentina
Member of the Executive Committee of Colegio de Abogados de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires and a partner at the firm Marval O'Farrell & Mairal.

Todd Crider, New York
Chair of the Vance Center for International Justice Initiatives Advisory Committee and a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York.

Dan Grunfeld, Los Angeles
President/CEO of Public Counsel, a pro bono law firm in Los Angeles, California.

Guillermo Morales, Chile
A partner at the firm of Errázuriz, Morales, Noguera, Valdivieso and Besa in Santiago, Chile.

Paula Samper Salazar, Colombia
A partner at the firm of Gómez-Pinzón Linares Samper Suárez Villamil in Bogota, Colombia.

Claus Werner von Wobeser, Mexico
A partner at the firm of von Wobeser and Sierra in Mexico City, Mexic and former president of the Barra Mexicana Colegio de Abodagos.   

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