Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation Empowers Women

John Elkington

October 2, 2009

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The New York Times Magazine recently featured a powerful article, ‘The Women’s Crusade’, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The article portrayed a sobering picture of the injustices faced by millions of disadvantaged women and girls around the world, including sex trafficking, servitude, maternal mortality, bride burning, female infanticide as well as a general lack of access to education and health care.

Kristof and WuDunn argued that focusing aid and investment on women and girls is the most effective way to fight poverty: “In many poor countries, the greatest unexploited resource isn’t oil fields or veins of gold; it is the women and girls who aren’t educated and never become a major presence in the formal economy. With education and with help starting businesses, [disadvantaged] women can earn money and support their countries as well as their families. They represent perhaps the best hope for fighting global poverty.” This view is increasingly being shared by governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and social entrepreneurs who are focusing their efforts and their dollars on women.

While painting a bleak picture of marginalized women around the world, the article also celebrates the incredible impact of organizations and social entrepreneurs that are working to empower and improve the lives of women and girls. The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, which Volans has included in its list of Trailblazers via Pamela Hartigan’s involvement in the Foundation, was delighted to see coverage in a related article of a number of organizations supported by Lex Mundi member firms through the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation. These include:

  • Vital Voices – an international NGO that identifies, trains and empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs, enabling them to create a better world;
  • Mercy Corps – an international NGO with a mission to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities;
  • CARE – a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty;
  • Grameen Foundation – inspired by the work of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the Grameen Foundation uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world’s poorest people;
  • GlobalGiving – an online marketplace that enables individuals and companies to find and support high-impact, grassroots social and economic development projects;
  • Ashoka – a global organization that identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs around the world; and
  • Kiva – the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in disadvantaged communities around the globe.

Here are short profiles of two of the organizations supported by members of the Foundation:

Lex Mundi Member Firms Snell & Wilmer and Mayora & Mayora help Synergo Arts Maximize the Health and Prosperity of Artisans around the World

Artists and artisans in numerous cultures suffer from preventable injuries because they spend much of the day kneeling or sitting in difficult positions. Synergo Arts, the leading provider of resources in ergonomics education, consulting and design, helps communities of artists and artisans use ergonomics to prevent such injuries and in turn enhance their health, income, performance, productivity and the quality of their art or craft.

Synergo Arts was introduced to the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation by one of the Foundation’s partners, the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) at Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society. Since then, Lex Mundi member law firms have played an integral role in helping Synergo Arts become a nonprofit and continue to provide legal advice regarding the organization’s daily operations.

For more information about Synergo Arts, please visit www.synergoarts.org.


Lex Mundi Member Firms Help Kiva Empower Women and Marginalized Individuals around the World

As the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, Kiva enables individuals to lend directly to small business entrepreneurs around the globe. Through its micro-lending service, Kiva facilitates the empowerment of traditionally marginalized populations by increasing their access to capital – capital that is used to create economic independence and improve lives of individuals, families and communities. The majority of Kiva’s entrepreneurs are women. Since its founding in 2005, Kiva has grown into one of the world’s largest microfinance facilitators, connecting entrepreneurs with millions of dollars in loans from hundreds of thousands of lenders around the world.

Kiva was introduced to the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation by one of its partners, the Draper Richards Foundation. Over the last few years, Lex Mundi’s global network of law firms have supported Kiva’s work in over thirteen countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The pro bono legal services provided by Lex Mundi’s member firms have included advice on local laws regulating the transfer of capital into the jurisdiction, advice on local banking and tax laws governing microfinance institutions, and help in establishing legal partnerships with local microfinance institutions.

For more information about Kiva, visit www.kiva.org.

More on The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation

This is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliate of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms. (For more information about Lex Mundi, please visit www.lexmundi.com.) Utilizing the talents and resources of Lex Mundi’s powerful network of 160 top-tier commercial law firms in 100 countries around the globe, representing approximately 21,000 lawyers, the Foundation matches experienced lawyers who provide first-class legal services to social entrepreneurs on a pro bono basis, enabling them to carry out their missions of positive social change and to improve the lives of the poor and disenfranchised.

The Foundation defines social entrepreneurs as “transformative change makers”, individuals and organizations that use entrepreneurial and innovative ideas to improve communities and the lives of the poor and disenfranchised. Because Lex Mundi member firms are leading, full-service law firms, they have the experience and expertise to provide critically important assistance to social entrepreneurs, thus helping them become successful agents of positive social change.

The Foundation is a “matchmaker” and does not practice law. Rather, it identifies effective social entrepreneurs through referrals by its partners/collaborators. These organizations include the Skoll Foundation, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Acumen Fund, Draper Richards Foundation, Global Fund for Children, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Echoing Green and Mercy Corps. For a complete list of the Foundation’s collaborators, please visit http://www.lexmundiprobono.org/lexmundiprobono/Our_Collaborators.asp. The Foundation is constantly exploring additional collaborative relationships with potential partners that support innovative and entrepreneurial social change makers.

The Foundation is unique in that there is no other global organization that is focused exclusively on providing pro bono legal services to social entrepreneurs. The Foundation aspires to become one of the world’s premier pro bono legal service organizations and to reach many more social entrepreneurs. It is off to a great start and continues to build capacity and expand the volume, value and impact of the pro bono services provided.

To learn more about the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation and itsprojects, visit http://www.lexmundiprobono.org