Adventures in Pro Bono and Fútbol in Bogotá

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Bogotá with Lisa Dewey to present two seminars on pro bono and access to justice to members of the local legal community and law students at Universidad del Rosario. Though this was my first trip to Colombia, New Perimeter has a long-standing partnership with Fundación Pro Bono-Colombia, and Universidad del Rosario and has been sending DLA Piper lawyers to Colombia for several years to provide these courses. During the sessions we were joined by Laura Bermudez of Fundación Pro Bono, as well as Maria Lucia Torres Villareal and Paola Iregui Parra, law professors at Universidad del Rosario, who provided insight into how students can get involved in pro bono in their local communities. Despite pro bono being a new topic for some of the students, the classes were enthusiastic, and when asked why lawyers have a specific responsibility to provide pro bono legal services, one student responded that she chose to become a lawyer because it is a vocation, not just a job. She said that she did not become a lawyer to make money, but to help people. The class nodded in agreement as this young woman spoke, and throughout the seminars other students echoed their understanding that they are privileged to have the opportunity to become lawyers and because of that privilege, they have a duty to help those less fortunate. 

In addition to meeting the wonderful law students and our hosts from Universidad del Rosario and Fundación Pro Bono-Colombia, Lisa and I also had the pleasure of visiting with our new colleagues at DLA Piper Martinez Neira, who were incredibly welcoming and generous with their time in discussing their impressive pro bono and charitable work with us.

On the second day of our visit, several members of the office took us to visit Tiempo de Juego, a local foundation they support that uses sports, arts, music, and vocational programs to engage at-risk children in positive activities and teach them leadership skills. Lisa and I piled into a van with our colleagues Maria Fernanda Martínez Beltrán (Bogotá), Juliana Nandar Beltrán (Bogotá), Jaifa Mezher Arango (Bogotá), and Enrique Chamorro (Madrid) and journeyed to the outskirts of Bogotá to an area called Cazucá where Tiempo de Juego is located. Cazucá is home to a number of informal settlements built largely by people from the countryside who were displaced by the conflict. The community has very few resources, and violence has been a part of daily life.  It is a difficult environment to grow up in, but one might not be blamed for forgetting about that after meeting with any of the 1,500 young people who participate in the programs at Tiempo de Juego. During our tour, led by Executive Director Esteban Reyes, we had the opportunity to speak with several teens at Tiempo de Juego who all appeared happily engaged in their programs at the foundation, hopeful for the future, and extremely articulate about the opportunities to grow and learn that Tiempo de Juego had provided to them. I am proud to know that our colleagues at DLA Piper Martinez Neira have been so closely involved with an organization that so deeply affects the lives of so many children. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to see the extraordinary work of the foundation, and I look forward to collaborating with our colleagues on pro bono matters in the future.