Bangalore-based private equity boutique Lexygen, set up in 2006 by Vijay Sambamurthi, has pledged to donate $150,000 worth of free legal advice to start-ups hit by the pandemic and NGOs (especially those in the healthcare and health-tech space) on a first-come-first-serve basis.

“The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to pay Rs 55 lakh as compensation to an Indian Air Force pilot who was injured in a MiG-21 crash in 2005. While the government will pay Rs 5 lakh, the state-run aeronautics firm will have to shell out Rs 50 lakh to Wing Commander Sanjeet Singh Kaila within four weeks,” reported PTI.

The law ministry has asked Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra in a letter to help it create a list of lawyers who are willing to act pro bono in cases, which could end up being “one of the proposed yardstick (sic) to be considered for appointment as Judges of High Courts”.

Over 40 percent Indians were deprived of certain basic rights and opportunities, Justice Tirath Singh Thakur of the Supreme Court has said here. “Over 40 percent out of 1.25 billion Indians are acutely deprived of certain basic rights and opportunities,” said Justice Thakur, who is also the executiv...

Pro bono legal assistance NGO iProbono won a Delhi high court appeal yesterday for a now six-year-old rape victim, with the high court slamming the magistrate and trial judge in her case for questioning her like an adult witness while recording her testimony.

Axon Partners and advocate Sai Vinod are acting for former NUJS Kolkata intellectual property (IP) MHRD chair professor Shamnad Basheer in his petition aimed to ease access to patent information through the Right to Information (RTI) mechanism. Basheer prayed for the court to declare that the RTI Ac...

A project aims to build a network of lawyers interested in fighting so-called SLAPP suits against activists and publishers, and to lobby for changes in freedom of speech laws.

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has entered into associations with NLS, NUJS, Nalsar, NLU Jodhpur and Delhi so far.

Kesavananda doctrine turns 40: India celebrates 40 years of “saving the democracy” on today’s anniversary of Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala where a 13-judge constitutional bench held that the parliament cannot amend the constitution to alter its “basic structure”. The Hindu narrates the full ...

Pro bono appetites growing.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh addressed lawyers present at the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) centenary celebrations on 16 February in Delhi, urging them to take on more pro bono matters.

Shireen Irani – executive director of online network for pro bono legal assistance i-Probono , tells the Hindu that the “push for volunteering” at the Indian legal workplace in the last three years has evened out the number of male and female lawyers registering on her website, to volunteer. The sit...

If you didn’t know the exact address of the office, you’d be certain to miss it in the busy North Mumbai suburb. There are no signs and Michelle Mendonca’s business card, as legal director of the International Justice Mission (IJM), merely lists a PO box.

The only giveaway that you are at the correct place is a security keypad locking an unmarked door inside the building.

Eleven law firms, including six of India’s largest, Ashoka and the UK’s former attorney general Lord Peter Goldsmith QC have discussed how to develop a pro bono culture in Indian law firms as i-Probono, a UK not-for-profit and online portal seeking to connect lawyers to social sector projects, will launch in India to encourage law firms to do that which is “long overdue”.

Exclusive: Members of NLU Delhi’s legal aid committee have won their first release of an undertrial prisoner languishing in Tihar jail for two years for the theft of a Rs 1,000 wallet.

This week we looked at some of those lawyers who took the road that is often rocky but also sometimes incredibly scenic.

NUJS Kolkata legal aid society (LAS) has called for a strengthening of legal aid networks across India, as it released a report of the college’s legal aid activities this year which included tie-ups with human rights organizations and a successful national conference.

What drives successful lawyers and graduates to forge a career path in civil society despite myriad challenges and the financial hit? And why are there not more of them? We ask them to find out.

Legally India reports live from NUJS Kolkata this weekend where roughly 24 law schools are gathered to discuss how to take law school legal aid forward. Latest updates: How to start a legal aid cell, Prof Madhava Menon slams the Legal Services Authority and the implementation of gram nyayalaya while inspiring.

Thakker & Thakker will cease operations by the end of this year, following founding partner Bijesh Thakker’s surprise decision to retire form law and work on philanthropic projects. The firm’s lawyers are understood to be in the process of seeking opportunities elsewhere.