Mourant is proud to sponsor the Equal Justice 2022 Impact Report which was published in early November this year (2023).

Launched in 2020, Equal Justice 平義社 is an award-winning, community-impact charity whose mission is to close Hong Kong’s justice poverty gap and to reduce hardship.

Indeed, the issue of post-Covid poverty is prevalent in the region, which has recently been outlined in Oxfam Hong Kong's 'Hong Kong Poverty Report 2023: A Polarised Recovery in the Post-Pandemic Era', released in September this year. The report, which analysed data from the Census and Statistics Department, found that the overall poverty rate in Hong Kong reached 20 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, with over 1.36 million people currently living in poverty. 

Access to justice, deemed by most as a basic human right, is sadly something that is so often restricted to those in impoverished and marginalised communities the world over. Staffed by a core team of experienced advisors and skilled volunteers, Equal Justice advocates for access to justice for all, providing free legal education, information and support to people in Hong Kong who are disadvantaged or excluded, and who cannot afford, or otherwise access, lawyers and information on the law. It does not offer legal advice, instead utilises its extensive network of over 120 lawyers at 50 law firms and barristers' chambers to refer cases to. 

Equal Justice progress and achievements

Since its launch, the charity's achievements include:   

• Helping almost 1,500 people to anticipate, prevent and solve their legal problems. 
• Providing legal education to 650 attendees from 17 NGOs.
• Training front-line caseworkers at over 10 NGOs to spot legal problems.
• Launching two systemic and sustainable change digital legal access portals: PAT: Pregnant@Work (which gives Hong Kong employees, employers, and families the information they need for happier and better-supported pregnancies) and CLIX, Hong Kong’s pro bono matching portal. 

The charity also works to drive positive social change through digitally innovative, interconnected cycles of education, service, and knowledge exchange including:  

• Providing two digital legal access portals, PAT and CLIX (PAT was the winner of the 2022 ALITA 'Outstanding Legal Technology for Good Award' and CLIX was a finalist for the 2023 ALITA 'Outstanding Legal Technology for Good Award'). 
• The Duty Lawyer: Free legal advice scheme, referring agency.  
• Hong Kong Bar Association exemption to instruct barristers directly for advice.  
• Members of the World Justice Project and of Namati, the Grassroots Justice Network.  

Equal Justice 2022 Impact Report

To find out more about the full extent of the charity's recent work and achievements, read the 2022 Impact Report, sponsored by Mourant, in full.