iProbono’s Sri Lanka Country Representative, Aritha Wickramasinghe, recently conducted a workshop for lawyers from Sri Lanka’s Northern Province on the benefits of doing pro bono work.

The weekend workshop was hosted by the Solidarity Centre as part of their capacity building for lawyers living and working in the conflict-affected Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu districts of the island’s north. iProbono’s workshop included training lawyers on how to effectively manage pro bono work with billable work and building a pro bono network of lawyers in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province.

A seasoned International Banking and Real Estate Finance Solicitor, Aritha Wickramasinghe is a champion of diversity and equality in the workplace. He leads and supports a number of diversity and social mobility initiatives in the UK and globally. During the workshop, Aritha shared his personal experience of doing pro bono work and discussed with lawyers about how pro bono legal work can help build legal skills and experience.

As the sessions went on, it was revealed that most lawyers in attendance were already undertaking a number of pro bono work at some level. However, there was a consensus that a pro bono network for the province would be helpful in assisting lawyers to manage pro bono matters more effectively and to distribute pro bono matters in a way that didn’t put too much pressure or burden on the lawyers.

iProbono is now working with the lawyers of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province and the Solidarity Centre to build an organised network of pro bono lawyers through iProbono’s platform.

Abhimanyu Shankhdhar – Senior Communications and Advocacy Manager, iProbono