Forces For Change Interviews with Pro Bono Director Özgür Kahale

Our storyteller, Aisha, is a definition of a global citizen. She hopped from London to Los Angeles and then Brussels to live, study, work and explore what human rights mean to people across different parts of the world.

Her passion for human rights and women empowerment let her to Özgür Kahale, the Director of Pro Bono for Europe at DLA Piper (law firm), based in Paris.

Özgür is an international pro bono lawyer and an academic with focus on corporate responsibility and human rights.

The two spoke about human rights, gender equality and the "Know Your Rights Campaign" over a cup of coffee. Here is the conversation...

Aisha/PWI: Firstly, thanks a lot for taking the time today. My first question to you is in relation to your field of work. Can you tell me what interests you within the pro bono field and how did you get started in this field?

Özgür/DLA: [You too!] I first started working as a project finance lawyer then quit my job to do a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law. What prompted me to follow this degree was the environmental and human rights issues the projects I was working on encountered. During my studies, I discovered that working at the intersection of business and human rights would be an area I could contribute the best, because of my previous career and experience in project finance. I got so into the topic during my Master’s that I decided to pursue a PhD — one year was not enough! After my PhD, I yearned to go back to a law firm because I really liked the atmosphere in the professional services firms. I then discovered that the Pro Bono Department is where I can make use of my degree.

Working in the pro bono department allows me to have the best of both worlds. I am in a law firm but at the same time, I can freely explore a variety of human rights issues. We work with a number of NGOs, UN Agencies, academic institutions, social entrepreneurs and individuals who cannot afford representation and cannot access legal aid. I encounter people from very different sectors of the society and seek solutions for their various legal problems. My mission is to ensure justice is served and I find satisfaction in my job because it helps me to serve my mission every day!

Aisha/PWI: Can you tell us some of the key missions and aims of the “Know Your Rights” Campaign?

Özgür/DLA: Know Your Rights is a legal empowerment project run by DLA Piper. We invite 25 refugees to our offices over 9 weeks and deliver weekly training on various legal issues such as employment law, housing law, health law and education, etc. in order to teach participants about their rights in their host country. However, the project not only achieves transfer of legal knowledge but has more profound goals (to name a few):

• It connects refugees with people outside of their network such as our lawyers who also act as mentors and allows them to spread this information throughout their communities.

• Each participant is paired with a mentor, who can be one of DLA Piper’s lawyers or a professional from one of our clients. This scheme aims at having two people from different backgrounds collaborate on a project that is of importance to the participant: it can be helping him/her with a university application or prepping for a job interview.

Aisha/PWI: In what way has this campaign helped empower the lives of these individuals in their host country?

Özgür/DLA: We have amazing stories to recount. For example in Italy we helped 5 refugees have their diplomas recognised so that they can continue their studies or apply for jobs. In other cities, our lawyers helped participants apply for family reunification to unite with their loved ones back home.

We helped some participants apply for scholarships, renew their residence permits. One participant in France who was working as a translator gained confidence in his legal knowledge and now he is working as a specialist legal translator which makes him receive more income and advance in his career.

Aisha/PWI: Within this program, how is the gender balance?

Özgür/DLA: We give priority to female participants when we have more demand than we can meet but our doors are open to everyone. As long as we have space and people are motivated, we accept anyone and everyone. Although I have to admit that we usually have more male participants than female but it is because of demographic of immigration.

Aisha/PWI: How do you envision the future for the KYR program?

Özgür/DLA: The program has been such a success that we would like to expand it in the next few years. Our aim is to launch KYR in every city where we have an office and where there are refugees. We would like to be a long term champion and trusted advisor for all refugees who participate in our project. We want them to know that they can turn to us.

We would like to also develop the refugee internship program further, so that our refugee interns can have an opportunity to have a professional experience in different legal environments.

More information about the Know Your Rights Campaign can be found here.