Source : The Business Times, September 8, 2007
SINGAPORE citizens and permanent residents who need legal services but cannot afford them will be able to get a helping hand through the Law Society's newly established Pro Bono Services Office.
The office, set up last month, coordinates and administers all the society's pro bono initiatives. These include the Criminal Legal Aid scheme, which provides free legal representation to needy persons facing non-capital criminal charges; the Project Law Help initiative, which provides free non-litigation commercial legal advice to charities, non-profit organisations and voluntary welfare organisations; and the Law Awareness initiative, a public education initiative which aims to raise awareness of the law.
The Law Society will go one step further with its latest initiative to be launched on Monday. It will establish and run free legal clinics for four nights every week. These community legal clinics will be hosted by the North-West and South-East Community Development Councils (CDCs). They will provide basic legal advice and information to Singaporeans and PRs who need it.
The major project to improve access to justice is made possible by the legal profession's commitment for every lawyer to pledge a minimum of 25 hours of pro bono work a year as well as the support of the various sectors of the community, including the Ministry of Law, the Singapore Academy of Law, and the two CDCs.
Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee will officially open the Pro Bono Services Office on Monday.
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