Do you Pro Bono? Launch of the inaugural Hong Kong Pro Bono Week

Katherine specializes in corporate derivatives at UBS and is joint coordinator of the UBS in-house pro bono programme. Katherine is also a member of the Pro Bono, Sustainability & Social Advocacy Committee of the Association of Corporate Counsel Hong Kong. Katherine has worked for UBS for over 15 years in both Hong Kong and Tokyo, and before that in private practice with Simmons & Simmons in Tokyo and Blake Dawson Waldron in Sydney and Melbourne. Katherine is qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales and as a legal practitioner in Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Arts in Japanese Interpreting and Translation, both from the University of Queensland.

Kay is an award-winning lawyer who has been working in Hong Kong’s equality and justice spaces for over two decades. In 2013, she transferred from private legal practice into the community impact space full-time, to help disadvantaged people find solutions to legal and other problems. In 2019, she founded Equal Justice 平義社 to bridge Hong Kong’s access to justice poverty gaps. In 2022, Equal Justice 平義社 won the ALITA Outstanding Legal Innovation/Legal Tech Award for its free, trilingual, public legal information platform: Pregnant@Work. In 2023, Kay won a Tatler Asia Front & Female Award, and Equal Justice 平義社 was a finalist in the 2023 ALITA awards for its community-lawyer digital matching platform, CLIX. She is a lawyer and mediator by background and a published author on access to justice. Kay and her husband have three adult children, and a Dachshund.
• About Equal Justice 平義社: Impact Report here.
• About Kay: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaymcardle/

Denise is a Barrister of QED Chambers, Hong Kong. She was called to the Bar in 2013 and has a broad civil practice and criminal practice. Her civil practice has a particular emphasis in public law and judicial review, and in matters involving immigration, asylum and refugees. She is also experienced in matters involving anti-discrimination legislation in Hong Kong. In her criminal practice, she has prosecuted and defended a wide range of criminal offences. Denise is a member of the Legal Advisory Committee of HELP for Domestic Workers.

Lynette is the Executive Director at Justice Centre Hong Kong and Deputy Chair of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN). As a qualified lawyer, she has been working to enhance access to justice for refugees and migrants in the Asia Pacific region since 2012.

At Justice Centre, Lynette played a pivotal role in developing the organisation’s direct services and mobilising the legal community in Hong Kong to bridge legal aid gaps through pro bono work. In her role at APRRN, she leads a network of civil society organisations to advance the rights and inclusion of refugees and others forcibly displaced in the Asia Pacific. Lynette previously worked with young Karenni refugees, as a legal empowerment trainer on the Thai-Burma border. She has also worked with Refugee Empowerment International in Tokyo, and various community legal centres in Brisbane. Before pivoting into non-profit, Lynette was a lawyer at Fragomen LLP and Nishimura & Asahi.

Andrew J. Dale is a partner in Ropes & Gray’s Hong Kong office and a member of the firm’s litigation and enforcement practice. He has almost 20 years’ experience in Asia, representing U.S.-based and international corporations in arbitration, compliance matters, corporate investigations and litigation.  A passionate advocate of pro bono work, Andrew co-chairs Ropes & Gray’s pro bono committee and maintains an active practice that includes advising local and regional NGOs focused on combating forced labor and human trafficking, among other matters.

Manisha is a registered Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. She completed her Bachelor of Laws Degree (LL.B.) in Sri Lanka prior to coming to Hong Kong in 2013 to complete her Master of Laws Degree in Human Rights (LL.M.) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Before coming to Hong Kong in 2013, Manisha worked for the UNICEF Child Protection & Juvenile Justice Programme and Save the Children – Sri Lanka. After completing her Master’s Degree, Manisha worked at Christian Action (Migrant Domestic Worker Programme) and at Daly & Associates, specialising in the area of migrant worker rights and international labour law. She joined HELP in October 2019. In 2022 Manisha was named a winner of the Tatler Magazine’s Inaugural Front & Female Award and the American Chamber of Commerce 19th Annual Women of Influence Award for Champion of Disadvantaged Communities and Minorities 2023.

Vincent is a native Hong Konger who has specialised in the field of operations for over a decade. He had been working in different capacities in the education sector. He has hands-on experience in managing a wide range of educational businesses, from language education, educational franchise, art & design education, overseas education, academic preparation and consulting, educational study tours, and distance learning programmes. He also worked closely with governmental departments in terms of school registrations and administration. With the aim to do a greater good for the society, he then started to serve at various NGOs at a later stage. He is always looking for the right place to contribute, the right place where he can work together with like-minded people to strive for a common goal in order to produce a greater impact. Vincent is a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Marketing and also an associate member of the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management. His professional qualifications include being a Registered Lean Leader and a Registered Six Sigma Green Belt. He steers various functional departments including administration, human resources, finance, and social enterprises at a local NGO supporting people experiencing homelessness.

Grace is a New York and Philippine qualified lawyer. She specializes in high yield debt and her capital markets experience includes a broad range of debt and equity capital market transactions in India, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, among others.
Having a keen interest in pro bono work, Grace’s pro bono experience includes coaching small businesses, advising/translating for domestic workers and building facilities in partner communities.