Law Brigade FAQ
What is the objective of a Law Brigade?
The objective of a Law Brigade is to address a community's legal need and help them solve it. This legal aid is given to the community in three ways:
Any undergraduate or graduate students interested in legal and human rights in developing countries would have a great experience with this program. A background in law, policy and international development is very helpful, however, not required.
How much law experience do students need?
Students are not required to have any pre-law or law background. The Program Lead and Program Advisor provides the brigaders with all the legal information needed to implement the workshops. Brigaders will also have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss ideas with the Program Lead and GB Advisor during pre-brigade conference calls. On the brigade, the group will also be accompanied by a lawyer to answer questions and provide legal guidance.
What does the Program Lead do to prepare for a Law Brigade?
In order to prepare the community, the Program Lead will meet with the community to organize dates of the free legal clinics and household visits. Then the team will conduct a site visit to the community to gather specific community and project profile information that will later be shared with the brigaders. This information will also include the potential focus of the brigade and the alternatives to the current situation.
To prepare the students, the Program Lead will host several conference calls with the brigaders to ensure that the brigaders understand the community needs and the focus of the project before arriving to Panama.
What does a student do to prepare for a Law Brigade?
A student can do many things to prepare for a Law Brigade, such as:
Research:
For all Law Brigades: minimum 15
Ideal brigade size: 20.
Do students need to bring any materials?
Yes, students need to bring notebooks and writing utensils to take notes. We will provide poster paper, markers and a printer for printing presentation materials. However, feel free to bring any other material that you consider helpful for you to deliver your workshops.
What does a student do on a Law Brigade?
A Law Brigade participant (“brigader”) will typically engage in the following:
Community involvement is key to a successful law brigade. The community will participate in interviews and workshops that the brigade delivers. Additionally, the community will learn about the legal process they are in involved in and what the benefits are of the new legal framework. The community will gather together for a final event where both the brigade and the community members will meet one last time before departing, sharing lessons learned, successes and plans for on-going development.
The objective of a Law Brigade is to address a community's legal need and help them solve it. This legal aid is given to the community in three ways:
- free legal clinics where Panamanian lawyers and students work together to help provide legal guidance to any legal questions and problems
- household visits - families partaking to our land titling project are provided individualized legal consult. Families are guided through the entire land titling process and assisted with legal paperwork and provided education to ensure their understanding of the process.
- legal capacity building workshops - after students sit down individually with community members and assess their level of legal knowledge, students come up with creative ways to teach the community various legal concepts. Law Brigades strongly believes that legal education is essential to empowering the community members to know and protect their legal rights.
Any undergraduate or graduate students interested in legal and human rights in developing countries would have a great experience with this program. A background in law, policy and international development is very helpful, however, not required.
How much law experience do students need?
Students are not required to have any pre-law or law background. The Program Lead and Program Advisor provides the brigaders with all the legal information needed to implement the workshops. Brigaders will also have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss ideas with the Program Lead and GB Advisor during pre-brigade conference calls. On the brigade, the group will also be accompanied by a lawyer to answer questions and provide legal guidance.
What does the Program Lead do to prepare for a Law Brigade?
In order to prepare the community, the Program Lead will meet with the community to organize dates of the free legal clinics and household visits. Then the team will conduct a site visit to the community to gather specific community and project profile information that will later be shared with the brigaders. This information will also include the potential focus of the brigade and the alternatives to the current situation.
To prepare the students, the Program Lead will host several conference calls with the brigaders to ensure that the brigaders understand the community needs and the focus of the project before arriving to Panama.
What does a student do to prepare for a Law Brigade?
A student can do many things to prepare for a Law Brigade, such as:
Research:
- Read the previous Law Brigades Reports to get a sense of how a brigade flows and what techniques, workshops, and approaches other groups have adopted in the past that could be useful.
- Read the pre-brigade documentation thoroughly, including workshop templates, and how you and the club can creatively engage the community (role-playing, community presentations, etc).
- Research the methods, techniques or models that could be applied in the project you have been assigned, in order to have some alternatives.
- Research Panama’s political and socio-economic historical background so you can get a sense of the country's current situation.
- Contact and keep in touch with past brigaders so you can expand your understanding. Having conversations with past brigaders is a great idea. Also, frequently visit our Global Brigades Facebook Page to get the latest updates and link to other brigaders.
- Attend all conference calls hosted by the Program Lead and Program Advisor. Valuable information will be shared in these calls that you will later need during the brigade.
- Contact your Program Advisor constantly to ask as many questions as needed so you are very clear as to what to expect.
- Make sure you have valid travel documentation such as visas, passports, any letter you may need from Global Brigades to travel to Panama.
- Make sure you research on the minimum health precautions you need to take to travel to another country. (such as vaccines)
For all Law Brigades: minimum 15
Ideal brigade size: 20.
Do students need to bring any materials?
Yes, students need to bring notebooks and writing utensils to take notes. We will provide poster paper, markers and a printer for printing presentation materials. However, feel free to bring any other material that you consider helpful for you to deliver your workshops.
What does a student do on a Law Brigade?
A Law Brigade participant (“brigader”) will typically engage in the following:
- Present workshops (break-outs or as a group) that inspire and inform the community with key legal training, terms and tools the community can use themselves post-brigade
- Have fun! Work, play and learn about the community through a variety of intercultural activities planned by your Brigade Coordinator. You may end up fishing, building a hut or playing soccer with the local youth.
- Invest in the community through the Community Investment Fund. You get to help move the community forward with much needed seed capital.
- Enjoy learning about a new culture, country and environment!
Community involvement is key to a successful law brigade. The community will participate in interviews and workshops that the brigade delivers. Additionally, the community will learn about the legal process they are in involved in and what the benefits are of the new legal framework. The community will gather together for a final event where both the brigade and the community members will meet one last time before departing, sharing lessons learned, successes and plans for on-going development.