Arham Sarwar

Legal Aid Society - Pakistan

The Legal Aid Society is a not for profit non-governmental organization which was registered on the 19th of November, 2013 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, former Chief Justice of Sindh and former Supreme Court Judge, founded the organization with the main objective of serving marginalized and underprivileged communities to reduce challenges in accessing justice. Our mission is to connect vulnerable and disempowered end users of justice with effective and expedient services for the delivery of justice. LAS starts by listening to the voices of the vulnerable and disempowered within the legal system and combines their needs with the values of equity, fairness and inclusion to change the way in which we view and tackle present day challenges facing the attainment of justice in our society. We organization adopt a two-pronged approach within the larger framework of access to justice in Pakistan: 1. To provide direct assistance on a case-by-case and individualized basis through provision of legal representation; akin to plugging in gaps in the provision of legal aid. 2. Systems level repair through the legal empowerment approach, which seeks to increase knowledge of law amongst common users for effectuating more access and change within the surrounding legal ecosystem. LAS has been operational for 7 years now, with its operations spread to 13 judicial districts in the province of Sindh. The head office is situated in Karachi and operations are conducted through 6 district offices located in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Khairpur, Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad. Since its inception we have gained recognition regionally and internationally as one of the key professional organizations working in the domains of law, justice and development.