PILC: International Lawyers Assisting Workers Pro Bono Lunch Information Session Fall ’24
This event is not open to the public.
The Public Interest Law Center together the Solidarity Center will host an in-person information session on available pro bono projects with the International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) Network, a project of the Solidarity Center.
Jon Hiatt, Of Counsel with the Solidarity Center and former General Counsel of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) will join and introduce the organization, its current projects, and pro bono volunteer opportunities and application processes for interested LLM students to get involved.
Pizza will be served. This session will be recorded.
Date and Time: November 18, 12PM-1PM
Location: PILC Library
RSVP here.
Solidarity Center is a Washington, D.C.-based, non-profit, non-governmental organization affiliated with the U.S. labor movement, whose mission is to promote worker rights in approximately 60 countries throughout the world.
In 2018 Solidarity Center launched a new global network of international union and worker rights lawyers and scholars to facilitate the sharing of information and expertise, more effective collaboration, and joint strategizing over issues and cases that increasingly transcend national boundaries.
The International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) Network operates both online through a members-only website (www.ilawnetwork.com) and phone app, as well as in-person through regional and global meetings and conferences. The platform provides materials in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic and we hope to be able to offer additional languages over time, as resources permit.
ILAW is staffed with five U.S.-based attorneys as well as five regional attorneys, based in Kenya, Colombia, Brazil, Bangladesh, and the Republic of Georgia. An ILAW Advisory Board consisting of 22 lawyers from 22 different countries provides guidance.
ILAW offers a variety of services to its member lawyers, including a global directory of labor and worker rights lawyers and allied legal professionals; a library/clearinghouse of news, research articles and case materials in the fields of labor and employment law; a space for blog-format and listserv discussion and debate on legal developments; a forum for webinars and other topical educational and training opportunities; a biannual journal (the Global Labour Rights Reporter); a wiki-style database of model legislation and regulations on various labor and employment issues; and a strategic litigation fund that awards modest grants to ILAW members to support impactful worker rights-related litigation in various countries. At any given time, ILAW is also involved in a number of research projects focusing on a range of global and regional labor and employment subjects.
At present, ILAW is focusing on several broad topic areas including: climate change just transition; the impact of new technologies in the workplace; gender-based violence; global supply chain accountability; migrant worker rights; the fissured employment relationship; employment discrimination in all its forms; the informal economy; occupational health and safety; issues stemming from the regulation of remote work/telework; and organizing and bargaining with multinational employers.
Given the global nature of work and common trends that affect workers worldwide, an international network of union and worker rights lawyers is needed now more than ever to effectively represent workers in these areas. In the six years since its creation, ILAW has grown to include approximately 1400 members in some 95 countries.