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Archives 2006
Strategy Summit for the
Americas
March
3, 2006
The Vance Center has released the
report on the "Strategy Summit for
the Americas" held at the New York
City Bar Association on March 3-5,
2005. The Summit brought together
leaders of the legal profession from
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Mexico, the United States, Spain and
South Africa, all of which are working
to make legal systems more
accessible to the poor and
disadvantaged. Participants from law
firms, bar associations, law schools
and legal NGOs gathered at the City Bar to examine the role of
the legal profession in democratic
societies and its responsibility to
foster access to justice for the poor
and underprivileged.
The Summit addressed the profession's
role in what the Vance Center calls
the "Four Pillars of the Legal
Profession in Democratic Societies":
the role of the legal profession in
guaranteeing access to justice for the
underserved; in building a fair and
equitable judicial system; in the
creation of fair and equitable public
policies and; in the promotion of
standards of professional
responsibility that promote public
confidence in the
legal system.
The
Summit focused on the lawyer's role in
guaranteeing access to justice for the
poor, with Summit participants sharing
information on
pro bono initiatives currently under
way in different jurisdictions.
The Summit also stressed the
importance of the "pro bono chain":
the necessary interaction and
collaboration that ought to exist
among the members of the legal
community in order to effectively
address unmet legal needs.
The
Summit was an opportunity for the
profession's leaders to engage in
discussions; learn from each other's
experiences; and undertake concrete
projects to be implemented at both
national and regional levels.
Several countries, including
Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia, will
conduct comprehensive surveys of
unmet legal needs, seen as a
necessary starting point to correctly
focus future efforts by both the
private sector and the state.
At a
regional level, Summit participants
committed to start work on the first
draft of a
"Pro
Bono Declaration of the Americas,"
a voluntary commitment to do pro bono
work for the poor and underserved that
stems from the recognition of the
social responsibility of the legal
profession in democratic societies.
The
report is being distributed in Latin
America, Spain, South Africa and New
York City, and is available in
English
Spanish and
Portuguese.
Download the Strategy Summit for the Americas Report:
English
Spanish and
Portuguese
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