Dr. Fatou Baldeh and Fred Rooney are working to create the first lawyer training program of its kind in The Gambia. Dr. Baldeh started Women in Liberation and Leadership, a Gambian group that helps women. Mr. Rooney is a US lawyer who fights for justice around the world. He is visiting The Gambia to help WILL and others start this new program.
The training program will teach lawyers how to work better in court and run their law offices. This Gambian program will follow all rules from the Chief Justice, Ministry of Justice, and Gambian Bar Association and meet all standards from the General Legal Council, which controls how lawyers practice, behave, and learn in The Gambia.
Rooney asked for a Fulbright grant after he heard about how Dr. Baldeh and WILL help women gain fair treatment. He wants to learn how WILL works and share their ideas with other countries. Rooney thinks more places need to copy what WILL does to protect women and girls, especially where women face harm and health dangers.
These training programs help more people get the legal help they can afford and make justice available to groups often left out. They add what law schools miss. Law schools teach students about research, writing, laws, and basic lawyer skills. But they rarely teach how to run a business or start a law office.
Many lawyers work alone or in small teams, mostly when they return to help their home communities. The planned Gambian program will show lawyers how to make justice more equal for everyone. These programs help put more lawyers in local communities and make lawyers happier with their jobs.
The programs help lawyers offer services at lower costs to poor workers, middle-class people, and others who usually cannot find help. Lawyers feel better about their work when they give free services to people who need help most. Those who charge less or work for free say they enjoy their careers more.
These law programs have three main goals. They help new lawyers build lasting practices by teaching better skills, more legal areas, business smarts, and proper behavior. They train lawyers to be business people who make justice more available and earn good money. They create public service lawyers who know they can both help others and support themselves well.
Gambian lawyers will meet others from North America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Europe. They can talk directly with program leaders from the US, Pakistan, Bulgaria, and Palestinian areas. The best ideas from all these places will improve the Gambian program. Rooney hopes his friends at bar groups and law schools will help support Gambian lawyers.
People around the world praise Rooney for helping those most in need get legal help. The American Bar Journal called him the Father of Lawyer Training Programs in 2013. Rooney says he uses the law to meet human needs and create more fairness. His work has helped many people find caring lawyers for their problems.
Since he started the first program in 2007, Rooney has created many more across the United States and in countries like Pakistan, Bulgaria, the Dominican Republic, and Gaza City before the war started there. He wants to start the Gambian program soon with WILL and other partners. He asks all young Gambian lawyers, especially women who want this chance, to ask WILL how to apply.
The training program will teach lawyers how to work better in court and run their law offices. This Gambian program will follow all rules from the Chief Justice, Ministry of Justice, and Gambian Bar Association and meet all standards from the General Legal Council, which controls how lawyers practice, behave, and learn in The Gambia.
Rooney asked for a Fulbright grant after he heard about how Dr. Baldeh and WILL help women gain fair treatment. He wants to learn how WILL works and share their ideas with other countries. Rooney thinks more places need to copy what WILL does to protect women and girls, especially where women face harm and health dangers.
These training programs help more people get the legal help they can afford and make justice available to groups often left out. They add what law schools miss. Law schools teach students about research, writing, laws, and basic lawyer skills. But they rarely teach how to run a business or start a law office.
Many lawyers work alone or in small teams, mostly when they return to help their home communities. The planned Gambian program will show lawyers how to make justice more equal for everyone. These programs help put more lawyers in local communities and make lawyers happier with their jobs.
The programs help lawyers offer services at lower costs to poor workers, middle-class people, and others who usually cannot find help. Lawyers feel better about their work when they give free services to people who need help most. Those who charge less or work for free say they enjoy their careers more.
These law programs have three main goals. They help new lawyers build lasting practices by teaching better skills, more legal areas, business smarts, and proper behavior. They train lawyers to be business people who make justice more available and earn good money. They create public service lawyers who know they can both help others and support themselves well.
Gambian lawyers will meet others from North America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Europe. They can talk directly with program leaders from the US, Pakistan, Bulgaria, and Palestinian areas. The best ideas from all these places will improve the Gambian program. Rooney hopes his friends at bar groups and law schools will help support Gambian lawyers.
People around the world praise Rooney for helping those most in need get legal help. The American Bar Journal called him the Father of Lawyer Training Programs in 2013. Rooney says he uses the law to meet human needs and create more fairness. His work has helped many people find caring lawyers for their problems.
Since he started the first program in 2007, Rooney has created many more across the United States and in countries like Pakistan, Bulgaria, the Dominican Republic, and Gaza City before the war started there. He wants to start the Gambian program soon with WILL and other partners. He asks all young Gambian lawyers, especially women who want this chance, to ask WILL how to apply.
