Sources of Pro Bono Opportunities and Key Contacts
There are several non-governmental organizations that provide pro bono legal services and resources in Mexico such as:
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Centro Mexicano Pro Bono, A.C. a non-profit association dedicated to bringing lawyers who wish to contribute pro bono work to vulnerable population groups and civil organization who require legal counsel or guidance.
Access to proper legal representation in Mexico is considered to be a luxury. For the most part, the general population of Mexican society relies on unsophisticated and non-professional lawyers to assist their daily needs. Having identified this issue, the Mexican government had historically concentrated on creating numerous sources of state funded legal aid institutions to assist the population. Areas such as criminal prosecution, human rights, labor disputes, tax counseling, consumer protection, to name a few, have been the major focus, and are dealt with by legal aid institutions, as opposed to by pro bono legal service providers. There is recent interest by private practitioners and other non-governmental organizations to provide an organized and qualified pro bono practice to compensate for the gaps left by the legal aid institutions in Mexico. Law firms have been implementing areas dedicated to pro bono work and have been forming alliances with other organizations to develop the practice and provide a “self-regulated” environment for providing pro bono legal services.
