Day Six: Advocacy

Today, the NGO we are partnering with had a full-day meeting to discuss some litigation they are working on, in particular a piece of litigation involving patents and international patent law. Two members of our team participated in this meeting: one spent the entire day (actually, the entire weekend) getting briefed on the case, while another member of the team spent Saturday afternoon participating in a discussion about advocacy, and different ways to try and engage both media, grassroots movements, and other NGOs on the issues surrounding the litigation.

The meeting offered valuable insight into the decision-making process of our partner NGO, and raised several good questions surrounding the role of lawyers and public advocacy, and the boundaries that litigants must be careful not to cross.

At the end of the day, we finished with a nice meal in the Colaba area of Mumbai, which is known for its vast street markets and great restaurants. Our team had a chance to walk around and look at the vast amount of street vendors, and also do some shopping!