AALEP LAUNCHES A PRO BONO PUBLIC ADVOCACY SERVICE

AALEP is launching a pro bono service offering its unique skills on a volunteer basis to organisations that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them.

The concept is simple: Interested groups need to identify areas they are seeking help with, from basic government relations to developing advocacy plans to logistical support for events to suggestions for building partnerships or coalitions with like-minded organisations. On the other side, the people that want to volunteer some time may put in their own applications with AALEP and then, they will have access to the list of organisations that applied. If there is a particular group that is interesting to them, they then will be able to reach out. Of course, volunteers will do their homework to make sure the organisations requesting assistance really cannot afford to pay for it.

AALEP will facilitate the matchmaking but once the lobbyist and the organisation are connected, it’s up to them to develop and maintain the partnership. The level of commitment is also for them to determine but would probably be around 3 to 5 hours per month. Ideally, the relationship would be long term for planning and strategy

Furthermore, a number of non-profit and charitable organisations look to recruit government relations specialists unto their boards. So that’s another way where the industry members and leaders may give back.

The demand for help into public policy advocacy at EU level is pretty substantial but there is a difference between the demand for the service or the demand for help and the ability to pay for the help.

It is AALEP’s view that offering pro bono advocacy services and building organisations’ capacity should be a professional expectation for professional public policy advocates. The legal industry has done a good job of fostering a pro bono ethic into the profession that can certainly be used as a model for lobbyists.  In the United States, the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct states that "A lawyer should aspire to render at least (50) hours of pro bono public legal services per year. In fulfilling this responsibility, the lawyer should provide a substantial majority of the hours without fee or expectation of fee to persons of limited means. In addition, a lawyer should voluntarily contribute financial support to organizations that provide legal services to persons of limited means. The same should apply to professional lobbyists.

Summary

AALEP pro-bono public advocacy services and expertise is to support EU charities and non-profit organisations that do not have the resources to access these types of services. Whether your organisation needs help understanding an EU policy, promoting a new idea or navigating EU parliamentary procedure, we can help. The full slate of services offered by AALEP could range from government relations counsel and media training to campaign design, event planning and strategy review, among others.

The full list of services offered by our volunteers could include:

• Government Relations
• Issues Management
• Statekholder Relations/Engagement
• Consultations
• Coalition-Building
• Policy Development (white papers, etc)
• Monitoring/Reporting (legislation, policy etc.)
• Development of Lobby Days
• Committee Preparation/Training
• Media Training
• Corporate Communications
• Writing Services
• Strategy Development
• Board/Senior Management Briefing Materials/Sessions
• Introduction to Government Briefing Materials/Sessions
• Crisis Planning/Training
• Reputation/Issue Audits
• Public Relations

For further information, please contact AALEP Secretariat: aalep@numericable.be