New Perimeter Two Years In:
A Talk by Judge Pat Wald

Two years from its inception, New Perimeter remains a “unique operation” in the world of international pro bono, retired Judge Pat Wald told a cross-country audience in a recent speech before DLA Piper’s Marbury Institute.

Judge Wald, co-chair of the advisory board of New Perimeter, spoke to the record-setting audience in Washington, DC, in a program videoconferenced to DLA Piper offices nationwide.

Expanding What Pro Bono Commitment Means

Many NGOs today are doing laudable work, Judge Wald said, but New Perimeter is unique because it has found a way to expand what it means for a law firm to commit to pro bono work. “New Perimeter,” she said, “is creating the opportunity to be a real player in the building of institutions in the international domain.”

It is not enough, Judge Wald said, for lawyers to simply carry out limited tasks for those they represent, nor is it enough to serve as wise counselors. “As my good friend Ben Heineman, former GE counsel, says, they have to be creative problem solvers” who provide leadership to help stakeholders find solutions on a large scale.

Because New Perimeter is privately funded, she continued, it can shape and carry forward projects without cleaving to government rules and restrictions. Using the global reach and resources of DLA Piper, New Perimeter is finding ways to provide pro bono assistance that is large scale, long term, and enduring—not just acting as a “contract player” involved briefly in a small chunk of a pro bono project, but working on a high level, “for a sustained period of time, from beginning to end,” to initiate and complete important endeavors that have global impact.

This creative thinking on a large scale allows New Perimeter to make a more profound commitment—asking large-scale critical questions and then formulating solutions, said Judge Wald. When looking at underdeveloped or developing countries, she noted, New Perimeter asks “how we can build institutional infrastructures at the state, national, and international level, to deal with urgent issues” such as discrimination against women, exploitation of children, shortages of food and water, environmental degradation, health concerns, and corruption.

Assisting Countries to Develop Stable, Sound Institutions

The goal of every New Perimeter project, she emphasized, is to go to underdeveloped or developing countries and assist them in developing “stable and sound institutions that are going to allow them to spread their wings.”

Some of these projects deal with what Judge Wald called “the worst obstacle” to stability and progress—corruption. “I can’t think of anything more important to get involved in” than programs addressing corruption and ensuring that funds go to the most needy, she said.

Current Projects

Judge Wald then went on to describe New Perimeter’s current projects, which include:

Assisting the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in creating and establishing an Office of Inspector General and a response team to prevent and detect fraud, abuse, corruption, and mismanagement in the use of its grant funds.

Working with America’s Second Harvest to create and support the Global Foodbanking Network. In this project, is seeking to expand A2H’s model of food distribution for use in developing nations. Judge Wald noted that GFN will begin actual operations very soon.

Partnering with the Southern Africa Litigation Centre to set up a library compiling both basic legal documents from the nine countries of Southern Africa and pertinent human rights research resources; create an online database of that information accessible to all; and setting up program to support under-resourced human rights lawyers that will be, in essence, “a high-quality, top-notch law firm to try human rights cases.”

One of the most interesting aspects of New Perimeter’s work on behalf of this project, Judge Wald said, is how mindful NP participants have been in respecting the culture of the project’s “partners on the ground” throughout the process. Judge Wald said, “The worst thing in the world… is to come in like the Ugly American with all the answers—this is how you do it, and this is how it works in the United States.”

How do you work with lawyers in the country who are going to take the primary responsibility for trying the cases and setting the priorities?” Partnering with SALC, she said, “called for great sensitivity in how to work with the lawyers.” New Perimeter volunteers needed not only to impart knowledge, but to remember that “this does call for a delicate kind of operation whereby you don’t attempt to overtake or dominate the local people, who have to continue the institution long after we have departed.”

“That project called for a great sensitivity which I think has been duly exercised.”

Drafting a law on courts and law on prosecution for Kosovo in cooperation with local advisory groups. The Kosovo Project, created at the request of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo Department of Justice, involved a New Perimeter team led by DLA Piper partner Sheldon Krantz, who, Judge Wald said, introduced a “whole new concept” to lawmaking in the region: when laws are being written, “including everyone who has an interest around a table and trying to bargain things out.” This legislative process of bargaining, drafting, and compromise, she noted, was almost unknown in that region: “The tradition was to receive fiats from above and then fight and protest bitterly.” The way Krantz’s team introduced this approach to lawmaking created “a great deal of respect for the process,” and stakeholders came to see the approach as not only positive but “almost revolutionary.”

The Kosovo Project, Judge Wald said, is “a good example of lawyers coming in as leaders to build institutions.” The actual law created in this process, she said, appears to have sufficient merit that it is surviving increasing levels of challenges.

Coming Projects

An upcoming New Perimeter project will deal, “in a modest way,” with the issue of global warming, by setting up an emission credit exchange. The project intends to help African subsistence farmers plant trees and engage in reforestation, and then sell emission credits. The project would also focus on working to ensure that women farmers involved in the project do not lose their rights to their earnings.

Other upcoming projects include working with the Earth Institute at Columbia University to develop strategies for private investment in Ghana and Malaysia, and assisting a law school in Africa with its curriculum.

Up to now, Judge Wald said, DLA Piper has donated 13,000 hours a year to pro bono projects through New Perimeter—hours worth a total of $5 million.

In conclusion, Judge Wald said, “The problems out there in developing countries are immense and they often desperately need good lawyering” to improve efficiencies, protect against corruption, and build and strengthen institutions. The unique contribution that lawyers bring, she said, is that they understand how to address and resolve these particular problems. New Perimeter does this, while taking into account “the culture of the people and their history and their sensitivities.”

“I think we are off to a good start.” Judge Wald said, “and I am very proud to be associated with it.”

About Judge Patricia Wald

In Judge Patricia Wald’s distinguished career, she has served both as an attorney in private practice and been highly involved in government service.

Introducing her to the Marbury Institute audience, Sheldon Krantz quoted The American Lawyer magazine, which honored Judge Wald with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. “In every decade of her public-spirited career,” Amlaw wrote, “Patricia Wald has been a witness to and critical influence on legal history.” In 1952, she was a trailblazing woman law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, working with the judge assigned to the appeal of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg; she then became the lone woman in a firm now known as Arnold and Porter, working alongside legal giants Thurman Arnold and Abe Fortas as they represented Joe McCarthy’s Red Scare victims.” She was part of the first wave of legal services litigators in Washington, D.C. In the Carter Administration, she served as Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs. For 20 years, she served on the DC Circuit, including a stint as the Chief Judge.

After leaving the federal bench, Judge Wald served for two years in The Hague as a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She then served on the Iraq Intelligence Commission. She is also a member of the board of the Open Society Institute's Justice Initiative. More than 700 of her legal opinions have been printed. Also notable: in the midst of Judge Wald’s career, she set her career aside for 11 years to raise her five children.