Latin Lawyer and The Vance Center's Annual Pro Bono Survey, 2019.

Our findings continue to evidence the great efforts Latin American law firms are making to adopt pro bono into their culture.

Now in its 12th year, our survey has never had as many respondents as it did in 2019. The survey’s greater popularity and results show that pro bono is increasingly finding a place within Latin American firms’ day-to-day service offer.

Latin Lawyer and the Vance Center would like to thank the following clearing houses for their help encouraging firms to take part in our survey and for their feedback on their local pro bono communities: the Comisión de Trabajo Pro Bono in Argentina; Brazil’s Instituto Pro Bono; the Fundación Pro Bono in Chile; the Fundación Pro Bono Colombia; the Costa Rican Comisión Pro Bono; the Dominican Republic’s Fundación Pro Bono; Fundación Pro Bono Guatemala; Fundación Barra Mexicana, Appleseed and Centro Mexicano Pro Bono in Mexico; CIDSEP in Paraguay; the Alianza Pro Bono in Peru; and ProVene in Venezuela.

Descarga la Encuesta Anual Pro Bono 2019 en PDF

Taking the initiative
Millions of people in vulnerable positions are in desperate need of legal advice, often on how to obtain refugee or legal status in their new home countries, or how to access health services and be eligible to work. This is where lawyers can play their part.

“Providing pro bono work is part of our profession and we have a duty to give back to the community, giving the pro bono client the same service as any billable client and bringing the same quality solution,” says Valentina Villa, counsel at Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enriquez SC in Mexico City.

Mexican lawyers are also innovating to face challenges presented by bureaucracy. Creel García-Cuéllar works closely with UNHCR’s local offices and helps people in asylum cases heard before the Mexican commission for refugee aid (COMAR). The number of refugee claimants in Mexico has doubled every year between 2015 and 2018, and is expected to be close to 80,000 in 2019. But austerity measures have forced the government to reduce COMAR’s funding, resulting in an evergrowing backlog of cases. COMAR is dealing with its smallest budget in years, at a time when the number of undocumented migrants reaching the US border is its highest in a decade.

Government funding cuts and reductions in personnel have slowed immigration processes down, says Creel García-Cuéllar counsel Carlos Martínez Betanzos. To push cases through faster, the firm also brings amparos (constitutional claims), which tend ti make the authorities react faster, her explains.

Law firms fiercely compete most of the time, but pro bono is an area where lawyers can collaborate. Those working on pro bono immigration cases in Mexico say it has brought the legal community closer together. Lawyers there use WhatsApp groups to share the latest news in relation to immigration cases they are handling.

“This is not a competition with other firms, we have become allies,” says Creel García-Cuéllar’s Villa.

It’s positive that clearing houses and law firms continue to undertake new initiatives to build on the region’s pro bono offering. For example, all three clearing houses in Mexico – Appleseed, Fundación Barra Mexicana and Centro Mexicano Pro Bono – launched the Mexican pro bono standards in 2018, a move to help standardise pro bono work in the country. Multiple law firms helped draft the standards, which were signed at the Pro Bono Network Forum (an annual event launched by the Vance Center, the Pro Bono Network of the Americas and the three Mexican clearing houses). The second Pro Bono Network Forum took place in Chile in 2019.

Leading Lights 2019 – Mexico

Law firms that stand out for the pro bono work done by their lawyers and for their efforts to build a lasting pro bono infrastructure, both internally and in their legal market.

Baker McKenzie
Bello, Gallardo, Bonequi y García, SC
Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez SC
Greenberg Traurig, SC
Hogan Lovells (México)
NDA Najera Danieli & Asocs
Ritch, Mueller, Heather y Nicolau, SC
Sánchez Devanny
Von Wobeser y Sierra SC

Participating firms – Mexico

Thank you to all of this survey’s participating firms for helping us, which are listed below with the exception of six that chose to remain anonymous.