Partner Jacqueline Chan’s pro bono work in helping Singapore’s migrant worker community was recently highlighted by Lianhe Zaobao, the largest Singaporean Chinese-language newspaper in the country. A link to the article is found here.
Ms. Chan has been providing legal advice and assistance to Singapore’s migrant workers at the Free Legal Clinic, jointly established by the Migrant Workers Centre and the Singapore Law Society’s Pro Bono Services Office. The legal clinic offers Singapore’s migrant workers free basic legal advice and information providing workers a deeper understanding of their legal and community rights so that they can better protect themselves or seek redress when they are at a disadvantage or treated unfairly.
Singapore is host to almost one million low-wage migrant workers who play an important role in Singapore’s society and economic development success story but are often subject to marginalization and face workplace issues that many might think are out of place in a modern economy.
Ms. Chan’s work focuses on making the migrant workers aware of their legal rights, and she often counsels workers who are owed wages or have been injured in the course of their employment.
Ms. Chan says of her work: “Pro bono work is incredibly important in the context of finding opportunities to give back to the community and societies that we work and live in. The migrant worker community is an essential part of society, and should have every access and opportunity to understand and exercise their legal rights. We are grateful to have the opportunity to assist, and hope we can bring more attention and awareness to their situation.”
