NUS LAW CLASS OF 1992 PRO BONO GRANT
The NUS Law Class of 1992 established a fund to support pro bono initiatives by NUS Law students to mark their 20th anniversary. They hope the fund will encourage more NUS Law students to be innovative in finding ways in which they can be of service to the general public. The grants were first awarded in 2016.
GRANTS AWARDED
Building of Bridges (“BOB”)
The aim of this project is to educate migrant workers about the laws governing their industry and the various means through which migrant workers can seek help. The students will collaborate with the Ministry of Manpower (Foreign Manpower Division) to conduct legal research, focused group discussions and a legal awareness workshop for migrant workers, focusing on two pieces of legislation (the Work Injury Compensation Act and the Employment Act) which are relevant to the migrant workers. They will also work with the Migrant Workers' Centre to volunteer at legal clinics where group members will volunteer on a weekly basis doing legal research, conducting legal awareness workshops, and conducting engagement sessions with the migrant workers.
Project Parachute
This project is a collaboration between NUS Pro Bono Group, NUS Care Unit and AWARE. It aims to provide help and support to sexual assault survivors, promote access to justice for sexual assault survivors, and help members become people with stronger sensitivities and empathy towards others. The team also planned to expand the outreach beyond the target groups through in-person exhibitions to be conducted post-workshop. Volunteers will go down to the venues to set up displays raising awareness of the sources of legal aid available to survivors of sexual assault so the money will be used for exhibition set up and reprinting of brochures which will also be available in digital format.
Building of Bridges (“BOB”)
BOB is a Pro Bono project aimed at raising awareness amongst the migrant worker community about their legal rights and works closely with the Ministry of Manpower to create a year-long program for their members. The project requires its members to craft survey questions, lead focus group discussions, conduct legal awareness workshops and create infographics to showcase their research and raise awareness amongst migrant workers about their legal rights and liabilities as well as avenues to seek help.
Project Parachute
This project is a collaboration between NUS Pro Bono Group, NUS Care Unit and AWARE. The project aims to provide help and support to sexual assault survivors, promote access to justice for sexual assault survivors, and help members become people with stronger sensitivities and empathy towards others.
NUS PBG-FIDReC Collaboration
The project aims to increase awareness of consumers' legal rights and recourse especially among the elderly through legal awareness workshops, online articles and ad hoc nominees in adjudication. The talks cover the most common issues faced by elderly complainants based on the data from FIDReC, including banking and investments products, travel and motor insurance, health and life insurance, and scam awareness.
Legal Education and Awareness Programme
LEAP is a pro bono initiative that promotes access to justice in two target groups: youths at risk and youths interested in the law. Its aim is to raise legal awareness among youths in areas of law relevant to them, such as their legal rights, the consequences of committing crimes, and how the law protects them.
Project Law Help
A project under the NUS Pro Bono Group, PLH aims to promote access to justice for Voluntary Welfare Organisations ("VWOs") by simplifying areas of the law that are identified to be relevant in the VWOs’ administrative and operational processes. This year, the team collaborated with the Singapore Student Support Network (SSSN), a coalition of nine youth-run non-profit organisation led by SGExams, comprising a total of 270 youths who work together to serve the community.
Building of Bridges (“BOB”)
This project aims to equip migrant workers, in the construction, manufacturing and service industry, with relevant legal knowledge (e.g. re WICA claims) via legal awareness workshops and distributed materials. The project will include translating legal materials prepared by BOB members into Chinese, Tamil, Hindi and Bengali. These materials will explain the court processes via infographics and short write-ups, thus providing legal information to the migrant workers in an easily understandable manner.
Parachute
This project is a collaboration between NUS Pro Bono Group, Students for a Safer NUS, and NUS Care Unit. The project aims to empower victims of sexual assault by providing them with legal information so they can decide if they want to commence an action. The project includes the designing and printing of a booklet that covers all necessary legal information to guide a survivor.
Students for Migrants – Law & You
Law & You aims to raise awareness of legal rights, liabilities and responsibilities and of self-help remedies, like negotiation as a means of conflict resolution, via legal workshops for Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs). Law & You have prepared a booklet that will provide FDWs with information pertaining to relevant legal matters and they will be translating the booklet into Burmese.
PLAY Mentorship: Project Legal Awareness for Youth
NUS Law students mentor secondary school student leaders from neighbourhood schools to support them in educating their fellow students about youth crime.
Criminal Justice Club
The NUS Law Criminal Justice Club is a student-led club established in September 2009 with the aim of increasing awareness and access to justice in criminal law. Besides its Innocence Project founded in 2012 (now known as The Recourse Initiative), the NUS Law Criminal Justice Club has expanded its activities to include the Military Justice Project, the NPCC Law Course and various other projects relating to criminal law.
Syariah Court Friends
This programme supports litigants-in-persons in the Syariah Court.
Military Justice Project
The project has been serving as a bridge between the Singapore Armed Forces, lawyers and law students so that accused servicemen are able to obtain access to pro bono legal support.
Mental Capacity Act Deputyship Guidebook Project
The aim of the project is to produce a guide book for Litigants in Person with their Deputyship applications.
Criminal Justice Club
CJC is a student-led club established in September 2009 with the purpose to carry out pro bono work in the area of criminal law. Besides its Innocence Project founded in 2012, the NUS Law Criminal Justice Club has expanded its activities to include Military Justice Project, the NPCC Law Course and various other projects relating to criminal law.
Syariah Law Forum
An awareness raising forum to educate law students and practitioners and engage the next generation of law students on Syariah law. The Syriah Law Forum will tap on the experience of both Muslim and non-Muslim legal practitioners.
Military Justice Project of Criminal Justice Club
The project has been serving as a bridge between the Singapore Armed Forces, lawyers and law students so that accused servicemen are able to obtain access to pro bono legal support.
Innocence Project (Singapore)
The project seeks to help prison inmates who have already exhausted all legal avenues of appeal yet believe that they have been wrongfully convicted.
NUS Adult Protection Research Team
The NUS Adult Protection Research Team has collaborated with TRANS Family Services on a research project on elder abuse in Singapore. Its efforts have culminated in a draft report that includes proposed elder abuse legislation and the proposed establishment of a multi-disciplinary centre dedicated to managing elder abuse.
Innocence Project (Singapore)
The Innocence Project (Singapore) seeks to provide recourse to individuals who believe that they have been wrongfully convicted. It was conceptualised in 2010 and officially launched in 2013, after drawing inspiration from the global Innocence Network movement that spans across countries such as the USA, the UK, South Africa, Philippines and Taiwan, amongst others. The Project is a collaboration between NUS Criminal Justice Club, the Law Society of Singapore, Association of Criminal Lawyers Singapore and the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS).
Military Justice Project (“MJP”)
MJP was conceived in 2012 and aims to work with the Ministry of Defence to explore potential avenues for increasing access to justice in the military justice system in Singapore. MJP acts as a bridge that connects servicemen in the Singapore Armed Forces, lawyers and law students who are interested in developing a stronger military justice system to defend those that defend Singapore. MJP does this using a three-pronged approach: Education, Engagement and Empowerment.