The Georgian Bar Association (GBA), within the framework of the Council of Europe project, “Support to the Profession of Lawyer in Georgia”, has successfully completed a grant aimed at providing pro bono legal assistance to vulnerable groups in Georgia.

From July to December 2020, the pro bono project was able to respond to 3000 calls, provided more than 1000 consultations, and lawyers took cases of 31 beneficiaries. Cases included property related disputes, divorces, alimony, neighbor disputes and access to state funded social assistance programs.

In July 2020, the project issued a small grant to the GBA to provide legal consultations and representation on civil and administrative cases in courts, as well as in administrative bodies. Beneficiaries of the project were single parents who were not included in unified database of socially vulnerable families but were identified by social agents as being “close to the poverty line”. For six months 11 lawyers, selected through an open and transparent selection process, were providing pro bono legal assistance to beneficiaries in 5 regions of Georgia.

The activity was implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Support to the Profession of Lawyer in Georgia”, implemented with the support of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Netherlands, Liechtenstein,  Latvia, the Human Rights Trust Fund, and the Fund to End Violence Against Children.