“Creating a thriving economy is never easy in Africa - insufficient investment, poor infrastructure, cumbersome logistics, red tape and corruption are all constant challenges.”

That’s what one frustrated student told my New Perimeter colleagues, Claire, Martin, Aline, Christine, and me on our first day of teaching a one-week LLM course on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) at the University of Pretoria last month.

On September 27-29, 2011 an international team of lawyers provided a three-day legal skills training to staff at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), South Africa’s national human rights institution.  The New Perimeter team included: Christine Jesseman, Khaya Mantengu, Deshni Naidoo and Matthew Ward (DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, Johannesburg); Daniel Creasey (DLA Piper, Melbourne), Silvia Farre (DLA Piper, London), and Sara Andrews and Joshua Sohn (DLA Piper, New York).  The training took place at the SAHRC’s headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa and was provided to approximately 30 legal services staff members.

It is amazing how great a part of human progress owes its origin to the simplest of ideas. That even the poorest of the poor can learn to transform their lives by setting aside a little something from their meager incomes sounded heretical until I saw the idea in full bloom in Rwanda earlier this year

One of the many reasons I was drawn to DLA Piper is the firm’s dynamic international presence. In particular, I was intrigued by the idea of DLA’s wholly integrated nonprofit affiliate – New Perimeter. Thus, when New Perimeter announced its Access to Justice Project in Namibia, in April 2010, I submitted my application to participate the very next day. As a litigation associate in DLA Piper’s Phoenix office, I saw the project as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get involved in public interest legal work with significant impact and international reach.

Since then I have worked with an international team of DLA Piper lawyers, headed by Andrew Valentine (Managing Partner, Silicon Valley), to draft a legal manual based on newly developed Namibian law that will be used as a primary legal resource for the members of the Namibian Paralegal Association (the “NPA”). The NPA is an association of paralegals, but the term “paralegal” is used differently than in the US. The NPA is a volunteer organization comprised of local leaders throughout the country who provide legal forms, advice and referrals to the majority of the population.