PROBONO Bulletin - Winter 2008 - (Page 28)

NEW PERImETER UPDATE New Perimeter Update New Perimeter, the firm’s international pro bono non-profit, is wrapping up two exciting projects this year. The Millennium Cities Project team, in collaboration with Columbia University’s Earth Institute, has drafted white papers on foreign direct investment in Ghana and Malawi, and our Climate Change Project team has worked with the International Small Group Tree Planting Program (TIST) to help subsistence farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda sell the carbon credits that their trees are generating on the emerging carbon credit markets. Both of these projects have enabled DLA Piper lawyers from offices across the US to get involved in cutting-edge international pro bono work. THE mILLENNIUm CITIES PRoJECT The Millennium Cities Project was launched in January 2007 with an orientation in New York, at which Jeffrey Sachs, head of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, spoke to a team of DLA Piper lawyers. The team quickly got to work on analyzing the climate for foreign direct investment in two Millennium Cities: Kumasi, Ghana, and Blantyre, Malawi. They conducted extensive research on the laws and regulations that govern foreign direct investment in those two cities. Teams then traveled to both cities to meet with government officials, local entrepreneurs and foreign companies already doing business there. Through these interviews, the teams were able to get a sense of how the laws work in reality and what laws need to be changed to make each city more friendly to foreign investment. After the research portion of the project was completed, the teams drafted white papers on their findings and submitted them to the Earth Institute. In December 2008, the DLA Piper London office will co-sponsor the Millennium Cities Investment Day conference. DLA Piper Joint Global CEO Nigel Knowles will make opening remarks at the conference, which will highlight investment opportunities in several of the Millennium Cities, including Kumasi and Blantyre. David Reifman (Chicago), the head of the Millennium Cities Project, will co-chair a panel discussion on investment opportunities and challenges in Malawi at the conference. Reifman CLImATE CHANGE PRoJECT New Perimeter also launched its Climate Change Project in early 2007. At that time, it was the largest team on a New Perimeter project to date. As an initial step, the team split into two sub-groups. The first focused on property and gender issues related to the ownership of land and trees planted by small groups of subsistence farmers. The farmers did not hold legal title to the land nor were they incorporated in any type of business association. Our lawyers’ task was to determine how the groups could claim legal title to the trees and enter into contracts to sell the carbon credits generated by the trees. The second project team worked on the carbon credit side of the equation, providing TIST with extensive research on how each carbon market works and the standards under which TIST could become accredited in each of these markets. As a result, many members of the team have become quite knowledgeable about navigating the emerging world of carbon credit markets. 28 | PRO BONO BULLETIN

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of PROBONO Bulletin - Winter 2008

PROBONO Bulletin - Winter 2008 Contents Cover Story: Digging Deep: DLA Piper’s Signature Project Model CSR Report Feature Story: DLA Piper Assists with German Ghetto Work Payment Program Clinics National News Mapping Impact An Interview With Jeff Coopersmith FourThought New Perimeter Update Awards and Recognition

PROBONO Bulletin - Winter 2008

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