On top of the standard services provided by lawyers, and where relevant, Casa Legal offers additional support from under the same roof, from social workers, but also from psychologists and other disciplines in the future. Like a medical centre, but opening its doors to legal, administrative or relational problems rather than medical ones.
Casa Legal also proposes alternative dispute resolution methods, including mediation, to avoid drawn-out and expensive legal proceedings wherever possible. Mediation in particular is still a little-known but often highly effective way of rapidly reaching a solution that suits all parties.
What impact will your project have on the Brussels region and its inhabitants?
Casa Legal provides legal support to around 300 clients in Brussels every year, including parents and their children. They handle a wide range of dossiers: immigration law, family law, youth law, etc. The non-profit also helps victims of domestic and sexual violence, and victims of human trafficking. In addition to its clients, Casa Legal works on a daily basis with a wide network of associations in Brussels, as well as with public administrations, public centres for social welfare, etc.
The future of the project
Casa Legal has recently received federal funding from the Minister of Justice. There is a serious need for this type of support in Belgium. In the future, the non-profit plans to open new branches throughout the country. This growth phase will start and continue over the next few years. At the same time, the non-profit is busy setting up a research and development project with Innoviris.
When you think of innovation, what is the key word that comes to mind?
Putting people before profit. As a social economy enterprise, for us, people come first. For me personally, innovation simply means more humanity.
What do you like about your work?
I love working in a team. There were 4 of us who founded Casa Legal, but we now have almost 15 colleagues. I love collectively managing things as a team! The fact that we're a social economy enterprise and therefore work in the field of innovation is also very motivating. In fact, no two days are the same for me, and I think it's the same for my colleagues. We do a lot of different things, we are very enterprising. What's really exciting is trying to shake things up. Especially since our profession is generally rather compartmentalised and conservative. It's interesting to offer a different way of working, one based on trial and error. I really like the fact that I can test things out and sometimes make mistakes, so I can take a step back before moving forward.
Who is Clémentine Ebert?
Clémentine Ebert is a coordinating lawyer at Casa Legal non-profit. Before that, she was a practising lawyer for several years in France, specialising in immigration law, and also representing victims of human trafficking. After a while she decided to go and work in Asia, first in Thailand, where she worked on human rights issues for the United Nations, then in China, and finally in Belgium. She crossed paths with Katia Melis, Noémie Segers and Margarita Hernandez-Dispaux, her three associates who are also lawyers. With her extensive experience and expertise acquired over the course of her career, and driven to improve the daily lives of families, Clémentine and her partners decided to set up Casa Legal.
