Lamp Lifeboat Ladder nominated for a Legalweek award!

Our unique survivor-led refugee resettlement project, Lamp Lifeboat Ladder and primary implementing partner, Reed Smith LLP, have been short-listed by American Lawyer Media’s Legalweek 2022 Leaders in Tech Law Awards 2022.  We have been nominated in the ‘Innovations in Pro Bono’ category!

In September 2019, the government of Canada signed Public Policies authorizing resettlement of at least 90 survivors of torture and/or sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) from Greece and Jordan to Canada. The Public Policies are unique insofar as they supplement traditional UN Refugee programs by creating a private pathway for resettlement.  Over the next two years, Reed Smith drew on its experience to meet the challenge of enacting this new pathway as the implementing partner of the Public Policies.

Through an agreement with the Canadian government, our innovative public-private project is now providing a pathway for 90 refugee families (roughly 500 refugees) to relocate to Canada. This first-of-its-kind partnership relies on a unique private-sector funding model to fulfill its mission: Resettling refugees and providing them with the social infrastructure they need to rebuild their lives.

Our project is also special because it is guided and led by survivors, who formed a Survivor’s Council, comprising 13 men and women from Syria and Sudan who advise and guide our teams in the work so that we are sure we understand what survivors in our project need in order to rebuild their lives. We are currently expanding our survivors network to encompass other survivors who have already resettled in Canada as well as those currently in Greece getting ready to make their journey to Canada.

As of December 2021, ten survivor families (including 36 individuals) have traveled to Canada and four more people are approved and waiting for their travel date. One application has just been submitted and six more applications are nearly ready to go. We have another 30 cases in different stages of development (intake, interviewing, drafting, submission). If we achieve the goal of submitting and winning 90 cases, Lamp Lifeboat Ladder will help hundreds of people rebuild their lives.

Find out if we win the ‘Innovations in Pro Bono’ award in February 2022!