Pretoria - The law will for the first time be accessible to all – especially the poor – in and around Pretoria, with legal NGO, ProBono.Org, volunteering its services to those who cannot afford legal advice.
ProBono.Org officially opened its Pretoria office on Wednesday night at the Kutlwanong Democracy Centre on the corner of Visagie and Prinsloo streets, and will join forces with the Law Society of the Northern Provinces (LSNP).
Although its doors have only been open for a few days, people who would normally be excluded from seeking legal advice, flocked to the office.
Their problems range from housing matters, family, maintenance and domestic problems, to consumer issues, estates and refuge matters.
No matter is too small or too big for Erica Emden, national director of the organisation, and her team to handle. While their office is packed with people wanting to discuss their legal problems, each of them receive individual attention and a sympathetic ear.
“We are a legal clearing house. We see clients who cannot afford a private lawyer and if it is a case where we can help, we refer the matter to an attorney who will take up the case free of charge. We stand between the client and the law firm,” Emden said.
ProBono.Org is dependent on lawyers and other members of the legal fraternity to volunteer their services, free of charge.
They are already running very successful operations in Durban and Joburg, but felt a pressing need existed to assist the poor and marginalised in Pretoria.
Last year, its other two offices each opened about 5 000 files for those needing legal assistance. Emden said she expected the Pretoria office to open no fewer than 6 000 files this year. This office mainly assists people who earn less than R7 000 a month and who own property valued at less than R350 000. Emden said they were flexible in some cases, where for instance a family with four children earning, for example, R10 000 a month, were in dire need of legal help.
While their own staff, who all have legal qualifications, first establish what the legal problem is before referring it to lawyers, Emden and her team will themselves sort out the smaller issues at their office.
This is, for instance, where someone is in need of a lawyer’s letter or where a dispute could be settled by a telephone call.
While ProBono.Org has a database of lawyers willing to assist, they are in dire need of more assistance. ”We do not want to force them to help. We want it to be because they want to.”
She said they were lucky to have the law society as an ally, as this body can force a lawyer to take a case, where ProBono.Org does not want to follow this route. In terms of the rules of the LSNP, lawyers have to take-on a certain amount of pro bono work.
Anyone interested can contact Jolindie Ferreira on [email protected]. Referrals can also be made to Humphrey Shivamba (LSNP pro bono co-ordinator) at [email protected].
Pretoria News