MLS, Legal Aid in pro bono scheme

Malawi Law Society (MLS) and Malawi Legal Aid Bureau (LAB) have launched a nationwide pro bono legal services scheme to enhance access to justice by providing lawyers to represent needy Malawians.

The scheme is aimed at helping less privileged citizens to enjoy their constitutional right to legal representation by a lawyer as guaranteed under Section 42(1)(c) and 42(2)(f)(v) of the country’s Constitution.

The scheme follows a resolution by MLS members during the society’s 2022 Annual General Meeting to develop a working framework to enhance lawyers’ nationwide involvement in pro bono legal services for LAB related work and judiciary referrals.

In an interview on Tuesday, MLS honorary secretary Gabriel Chembezi said through the scheme, the society will develop and distribute district panels of lawyers for reference by judiciary of pro bono work to legal practitioners for members of the public deserving legal aid assistance nationwide.

He said: “So, far at least 50 legal practitioners have registered to be involved in the scheme. Under the scheme, a judicial officer who establishes that a litigant or an accused person who appears in court requires legal representation will be referring the person to any of the legal practitioners on the list of panellists.”

Chembezi said under Section 42 of the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act, 2017 (Lelpa) the society, in liaison with the LAB director, allocates pro bono work to every legal practitioner annually.

According to the Act, every lawyer is allowed to undertake pro bono work on his or her own and this is taken into account when MLS and LAB directors are allocating the pro bono work to them. The lawyer is required to perform at least 24 hours of pro bono hours yearly.

“A legal practitioner who fails to perform pro bono work is by law required to pay MLS an amount determined by MLS with which MLS shall hire services of another legal practitioner to perform the work.

Since 1st January, 2019, MLS and LAB have been jointly working to allocate pro bono work to legal practitioners,” explained Chembezi.

LAB director Trouble Kalua said considering that courts are spread throughout the country, the scheme would help persons who could otherwise not have access to lawyers who are largely concentrated in urban areas to have access to legal practitioners.

He said the scheme would also ensure that legal practitioners in private practice perform their public duty by contributing to access to justice through the scheme.

MLS is a statutory body established under Section 63 of LELPA with objectives, among others, to promote the highest standards among legal practitioners and to promote integrity, competence and transparency of professional services.

While LAB is a government department established under Section 3 of the Legal Aid Act with the mandate, among others, to provide legal aid in accordance with the Legal Aid Act.

The bureau is by law mandated to grant legal aid in civil and criminal matters to persons whose means are insufficient to enable them to engage private legal practitioners and to other categories of persons where the interests of justice so require.