2016 TrustLaw Awards: Lawyers from India and Botswana Emerge Winners

Indonesian Version

 
Marcell Sihombing, Ali Salmande Harahap/CR-20
 

 

On 23 September 2016, the Thomson Reuters Foundation successfully hosted the 2016 TrustLaw Awards in NewYork. This prestigious pro-bono event has been held annually since 2011. The event’s organizing committee issued a statement praising the diversity of this year’s winners, and lawyers from India and Botswana won big at the awards by taking, respectively, the “The Innovation Award” and the “Lawyer of the Year” award. This international diversity perfectly represents the success of the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s TrustLaw program, which was initially established in order to promote pro-bono legal services around the world through a thoroughly modern approach to the subject.
 
In a recent press release obtained by hukumonline, the event’s organizing committee explained that such a commitment to continuing to promote pro-bono legal services was not only found in various well-developed American law firms but also in other parts of the world. Indeed, these awards have revealed that various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and social organizations hailing from across South America, Asia and Africa can also achieve extraordinary results within the pro-bono sphere.
 
Commenting on this success, Monique Villa, the CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, proudly stated that TrustLaw has played its part in the growth of various social movements across the globe.
 
“This year, we [TrustLaw] have assisted with a number of extraordinary pro-bono projects, ranging from an initiative offering a response to the European migrant crisis to gay conversion therapy ban issue in Illinois,” Mrs. Villa declared during her opening speech at the 2016 TrustLaw Awards.
 
Ms. Villa also emphasized that the awards are held in order to show appreciation to and to honor those brilliant lawyers who voluntarily give their time and make the effort to engage in pro-bono work, as well as the various NGOs and social organizations that continue to work hard to promote social change.
 
The complete list of categories and winners at the 2016 TrustLaw Awards is as follows:
 
LAWYER OF THE YEAR AWARD:1) Yvonne Chilume, founder of Chilume and Company from Gaborone, Botswana; and 2) David Birnbaum, Evan Knobloch and Jonathan Man, a team of associates from Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, USA.
 
INNOVATION AWARD:Microsoft and Ashu Takur & Associates (a law firm specializing in intellectual property), in cooperation with BEMPU Health (a social organization from India), who have patented a life-saving, low-cost temperature monitoring bracelet for Indian infants.
 
IMPACT AWARD:Kirkland & Ellis, in cooperation with Equality Illinois (an NGO specializing in LGBT rights) for their research on laws and regulations regarding gay conversion therapy ban issue in Illinois.
 
COLLABORATION AWARD:Latham & Watkins, a law firm leading a consortium of lawyers, consultants and academicians from 12 countries who offer advice on border control, asylum and refugee settlement and relocation relating to Europe’s ongoing refugee crisis.
 
INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR:Latham & Watkins, for their participation in 49 pro-bono projects in conjunction with TrustLaw during 2015.
 
DOMESTIC LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR:Norton Rose Fulbright of South Africa, who have been declared the most active local law firm in the TrustLaw network.
 
IN-HOUSE LEGAL TEAM OF THE YEAR: Hewlett Packard Enterprises, for their team’s completion of 19 pro-bono projects this year (2016).

Apparently, there was no lawyers or law firms from Indonesia had won or had even been nominated for the award this year. 

(cd/sp)