Gator alumni from a nonprofit corporation and a software company are collaborating to bring legal education to the indigenous communities of Central America.
Village Rights International and CrowdLaw recently partnered to fund a trip to Panama to educate those who live in rural areas on how to overcome legal challenges. The trip began March 25 and is ending Wednesday.
Henry Perlstein, a UF Law alumnus, founded CrowdLaw last year. The software company is designed to support fundraising campaigns for advocacy groups, making it a suitable platform for Village Rights International.
“Their mission is so in line with what we do,” Perlstein said. “It’s a special campaign to us.”
Village Rights International’s founder Benjamin Goodman, who is hosting the trip to Panama, is also a UF Law alumnus.
Perlstein said he is pleased to collaborate with Goodman and his company because it will give the people of Panama an opportunity they would not have had otherwise.
“This is a way for (Panamanians) to start to build their way out,” Perlstein said. “It’s giving them a base of life empowerment.”
In many developing countries, the level of funding is equal to the level of legal freedom, Perlstein said.
“Deep pockets are able to hold great sway in the legal system,” Perlstein said. “Therefore, there is no more vital resource than access to justice.”
Claire McQueen, a 20-year-old UF art history sophomore, is a member of the pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta.
She said she believes everyone deserves to experience legal justice, even though they don’t always have the opportunity.
“I think that every person is born with their own personal rights,” McQueen said. “When countries don’t offer that to people, they’re being cheated of their basic rights.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 4/6/2015 under the headline “UF Law alumni bring legal education to rural Central America”]
