Community lawyering makes waves in Pune
- December 10, 2008
A community legal service centre established by Symbiosis Law School (SLS), Pune in the Pirangut area has become the face of a project that tests the replicability of the Community Law Resource Network (CLRN), a collaborative that supports graduates of the City University of New York (CUNY) as they work to serve the pressing needs of the poor and disadvantaged in communities that are underserved by lawyers. The centre provides legal aid and literacy to 5,000 odd villagers staying in and around Pirangut. A few weeks back, Santosh Aghave, a professor with SLS who will be coordinating the weekly visits to the centre had said that “with Lavasa Lake city and Lavale Special Education Zone under development, we expect more complaints related to land disputes.” Other than that, the centre will also address issues related to child rights and women’s rights. Dr Shashikala Gurpur, Principal, SLS had said, “The centre works in tandem with the panchayat committees and also train village youth in general law.”
Fred Rooney is CLRN director.
The concept that led to the formation of CLRN is revolutionary in that it calls on law schools to continue educating graduates long after they walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. CLRN is based on the premise that the technical and professional support it offers CUNY Law graduates must be highly practical and specifically designed to help lawyers create economically-viable solo and small firm practices that focus on the unmet legal needs of society’s most vulnerable individuals and groups.
The CLRN, a network of hundreds of New York City-area attorneys serving local communities and individuals in need, began with a handful of graduates practicing law in different parts of New York City, but quickly developed into a vibrant network of committed lawyers determined to use both individual and collective efforts to strengthen the civil justice system. Through grants from major philanthropic organizations like the Open Society Institute (Soros) and the Ford Foundation and ongoing funding from private foundations and from New York City and state governments, CLRN today boasts of a membership of several hundred lawyers. It has been heralded as a prototype for other American law schools as they create CLRN-like networks. As it reaches its 10-year milestone, the CLRN attempts to replicate its programme in Pune, India.
Dr. Shashikala Gurpur is principal of Symbiosis Law School.
This programme began on Oct. 1 under the leadership of CLRN director, Fred Rooney. After helping to create a CLRN-like network of Symbiosis Law graduates, Rooney plans to assist in the implementation of “community lawyering” initiatives in marginalised communities in and around Pune. “This is an extraordinary opportunity for both Indian attorneys and communities in need in and around Pune,” Rooney had said. “I’m hoping that we can be as successful in creating a network of compassionate and caring attorneys in Pune as we have been in New York, and that the CLRN model will eventually result in increased access to justice for thousands of marginalised individuals with unmet legal needs.”
Two LLM students and three faculty members from SLS visit the centre along with a practitioner in rotation every Saturday and address the complaints of the villagers. Talking to the rainmaker, SLS Principal Dr Shashikala Gurpur stressed the need to stop seeing law in isolation and instead as an important force of social development. She also touched on the enthusiastic response of the Pune bar and judiciary to the whole programme. The legal aid committee of the Pune district court has facilitated a prisoners’ rights programme through this, and “has promised greater support once more villages are identified for expansion.” The students of SLS are lying low at the moment owing to local elections in Pirangut. They were previously engaged in training the local population on the Right to Information through skits and other methods, and according to Dr. Shashikala, eagerly await the end of elections so that their involvement can continue.
The tie-up between CLRN and SLS had its genesis in a chance meeting between Fred Rooney and Magsaysay award winning social worker and former IPS officer, Dr. Kiran Bedi in New York. During these conversations, Dr. Bedi realised that much like India, the civil justice system in USA had failed those who needed it most. 80 per cent of low-income Americans in need of legal assistance do not receive any. 70 per cent of New Yorkers could not afford the cost of retaining a private attorney. It was Dr. Bedi who introduced Fred Rooney to members of the faculty at the SLS. Topping the reasons why Dr. Bedi chose SLS were its professed commitment to inclusiveness and access to the 45000 students and professionals from Symbiosis International University ’s 37 academic institutions spread across 9 campuses in and around Pune. The programme has already attracted interest from the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management which looks to tie-in its entrepreneurship project, the Symbiosis Institute of Technology and the College of Nursing .
Dr. Shashikala Gurpur adds to this list of reasons. “ Symbiosis Law School is not within the state regime unlike other top law schools and hence it is much easier to implement such a programme.” At a meeting at Pune in May this year featuring herself, Fred Rooney, Shashikala Gurpur and Symbiosis International University principal director, Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, Dr Bedi stressed the urgent need to increase access to justice throughout India . It was agreed that an innovative partnership between CLRN and SLS would allow both organisations to test the replicability of CLRN outside of the United States . “What Pune thinks today, the rest of India thinks tomorrow”, says Dr. Shashikala Gurpure.
