Honoring Pro Bono Excellence: Morrison Foerster

October 17, 2024
Category: Capacity Building | Partnerships | Training & Workshops
Morrison Foerster hosting JWB’s Access to Justice Mentorship Programme – Case Management and Evidence Collection Workshop in January 2024

The commitment of JWB’s pro bono partners is essential to advancing access to justice for migrant domestic workers. We celebrate our partnership with Morrison Foerster in pro bono work.

In 2024, Morrison Foerster supported our Access to Justice (A2J) Mentorship Program in Singapore, as well as contributing to strategic legal research and providing advice to JWB in a number of areas. 

Building the skills of the pro bono community 

After one of our clients lost a compensation claim for false imprisonment in Singapore, the Morrison Foerster team joined us in responding to the loss with renewed energy to find effective legal remedies for the harm suffered by migrant workers.

Morrison Foerster contributed to a comparative law research project on false imprisonment laws in the Commonwealth. Led by Associates Rishi Wijaya and Emily Duffy, this research culminated in a research paper we published to help all lawyers with claims of this kind and, in 2024, a Seminar on False Imprisonment, attended by 40 Singapore-based lawyers. 

From left: Mark Teo (Herbert Smith Freehills), Ijechi Nazriah (Head of JWB Singapore), Rishi Wijaya (Associate, Morrison Foerster), Paul D. Mckenzie (Partner, Morrison Foerster)

Empowering migrant domestic workers through education

In 2023, we launched our first A2J Program in Singapore to empower influential figures in the migrant domestic worker community with the skills to help workers in need. Morrison Foerster has been a key supporter of the inaugural  A2J program. Morrison Foerster’s team hosted coaching sessions and training workshops for participants.

The Singapore A2J program trained 40 caseworkers from Humanitarian Organization on Migration Economics (HOME) and Suara Kita, and provided consultations to over 90 workers. By equipping caseworkers (who are migrant domestic workers themselves) with the skills to help their peers understand their rights and seek justice, the program makes justice more accessible to those who need it most. 

Lisa Yeo (Associate, Morrison Foerster) delivering a session on case management in January 2024
Tan Yong Wei (Associate, Morrison Foerster) in discussion with participants at the migrant worker rights workshop on April 2024

Anish Hazra, one of the legal mentors of the programme shared: “I learned about the challenges and difficult situations migrant workers have to navigate. It was a great opportunity and I would love to support similar ventures!”.

Another mentor Tan Yong Wei, shared: “It’s inspiring to see how migrant workers use their rest days to learn more about their rights and share this knowledge with their friends. It’s a very impactful programme.”

We are deeply grateful for Morrison Foerster’s contribution to building the legal knowledge and confidence of future leaders within the migrant worker community. Rishi Wijaya’s dedication to this work is particularly inspiring, his passion for pro bono work coupled with the ongoing support of Morrison Foerster remains a source of inspiration for us all at JWB.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Morrison Foerster for their invaluable contributions. Their partnership has strengthened our mission and uplifted our community. We look forward to many more years of impactful collaboration.

Written by: PR Volunteer, Heidi Fung