Mongolian lawyer Kh.Baasanjargal receives IBA Pro Bono Award
Mongolian lawyer Kh.Baasanjargal has been chosen as the recipient of the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Award by the International Bar Association (IBA) for her work in advising NGOs on an initiative to prevent horse racing during extreme winter conditions.
Kh.Baasanjargal is a lawyer at ELC Advocates and is the first Mongolian to receive the Pro Bono award. The award will be presented by IBA President Martin Solc and Executive Vice President and General Counsel at LexisNexis Ian McDougalf on Thursday morning during the IBA Annual Conference in Rome, running from October 7 to 12.
She was recognized for her outstanding commitment to pro bono work throughout her legal career. Her work in advocating against horse racing in extreme winter conditions was highlighted in particular.
“Although such practices follow from Mongolian traditions – which involve having children as young as five years old riding horses in the races – the events in winter have caused significant danger to the children involved, in certain cases leading to severe injuries and even death. Baasanjargal led a legal effort on a pro bono basis to seek remedies through the Mongolian court system and government in a case of first impression in the country. Her persistence and tenacious efforts led to a reversal of the government’s original position and effective national ban on winter horse racing involving children,”
the IBA said.
Shortlisted Candidates 2018
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» Kh.Baasanjargal, ELC Mongolia
Sara Chandler, QC, London South Bank University, United Kingdom
Chief Sunday Essienekak, Stand for Rights Initiative (SRI), Nigeria
Lindsay Heck, White & Case, USA
Anamul Hoque, Access to Human Rights International (AHRI), Bangladesh William Mitchell, Townville Community Legal Service, Australia
Advocates,
» Agnieszka Wardak, Dentons, Poland
Each year, the IBA’s Pro Bono Committee honors a lawyer who has shown an outstanding commitment to pro bono work as part of their legal career. The IBA Pro Bono Committee’s mission is to support the IBA in promoting pro bono work globally through implementation of the IBA Pro Bono Declaration and the exchange of information and the promotion of best practice. The award is sponsored by LexisNexis and the company provides a contribution of 5,500 USD to the recipient.
The International Bar Association (IBA), founded in 1947, is a bar association of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The IBA currently has a membership of more than 80,000 individual lawyers and 200 bar associations and law societies.