Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS)
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pilsni.bsky.social
Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS)
@pilsni.bsky.social
220 followers 420 following 85 posts
Since 2009, PILS has connected human rights NGOs and lawyers to pursue cases that challenge injustice, protect human rights, and promote equality in Northern Ireland.

https://pilsni.org/
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pilsni.bsky.social
“…I felt people were taking us a wee bit more seriously…because we had this backing of yourselves…”

Public interest litigation or legal tools aren't a substitute for campaigning. They are a powerful complement.

🎙️Deena Nimick & Wesley McGrady talk to To Be Fair NI about their collaboration:
November 24, 2025 at 10:03 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
NEW PODCAST EPISODE 🎧

Today, To Be Fair NI features a candid conversation with CILNI’s Deena Nimick and barrister Wesley McGrady.

It's about solidarity, collaboration & the change that can be achieved when human rights activists team up with pro bono lawyers.

www.podbean.com/eas/pb-b98nh-19cab45
Deena and Wesley are smiling directly at the camera. The PILS logo appears on a teal green background, with the To Be Fair NI podcast title in hot pink capital letters.
November 20, 2025 at 2:01 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
"First of all, in my previous life, I was a linguist before I became a barrister."

In the first episode of #TBFNI, barrister Iryna Kennedy reflects on how her background in linguistics shaped her pro bono collaboration w/ @cnagaeilge.bsky.social @cajni.bsky.social

www.podbean.com/ew/pb-uupq3-...
November 18, 2025 at 10:29 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
We’re back! 🎙️ To Be Fair NI returns with stories of hope, collaboration & legal changemaking.

In Ep1, Cuisle Nic Liam, Úna Boyd & Iryna Kennedy talk bilingual signage, language rights & testing new legal ground.

Éist: www.podbean.com/ew/pb-uupq3-19bf11b

@cnagaeilge.bsky.social @cajni.bsky.social
Iryna, Una and Cuisle are all smiling directly at the camera. The PILS logo appears on a teal green background, with the To Be Fair NI podcast title in hot pink capital letters.
November 13, 2025 at 2:47 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
🆕Podcast Alert🆕

To Be Fair NI returns for Series 2 on Thurs 13 Nov 2025.

Join us for special #WeDoProBono interviews, reuniting incredible activists and Pro Bono Register lawyers.

Justice is a team sport. @cajni.bsky.social @cnagaeilge.bsky.social @probonoweekuk.bsky.social #CILNI #BarofNI
November 6, 2025 at 3:04 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
At last night’s #ProBonoWeek UK launch, there was a powerful reminder that legal pro bono takes many forms.

The Know Your Rights to Protest guide, created with 5 pro bono barristers, shows how legal skills can meet grassroots needs here in NI.

Link in comments. #WeDoProBono
Emma's laptop screen shows the live stream of the UK PBW launch event from London. The lovely forest green cover of the Protest Guide.
November 4, 2025 at 10:18 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
🗓️One week to go!

Join @pilsni.bsky.social and our @probonoweekuk.bsky.social colleagues across Scotland, England and Wales as we celebrate 'Pro Bono in Action'.

Check out the #UKPBW event calendar: probonoweek.org.uk/events

#WeDoProBono
October 27, 2025 at 11:06 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
🍂Our first Autumn Social brought together communities, human rights activists and legal professionals to celebrate the power of public interest litigation.🍂

A huge thanks to @john-wadham.bsky.social, Belfast Exposed, Yallaa, musicians Maureen Walker & Brendan Kerr and photographer Alisa Lymanska.
October 27, 2025 at 8:45 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
🆕 Community power in action!🆕

All seven of the mineral prospecting licences granted by the Department for Economy earlier this year have now been *relinquished*.

@pilsni.bsky.social are proud to support #SaveOurSperrins, backed by pro bono barrister Leona Askin.

#WeDoProBono
October 3, 2025 at 10:13 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
FYI: today = UK #HRA Human Rights Act's 25th birthday.

In this milestone month, PILS invite you to a celebration of #HumanRights & the people who defend them.

Autumn Social - 16 Oct - 17.30 @ Belfast Exposed
✨ Special guest: @JohnWadham
✨ Live music, exhibitions & good food
October 2, 2025 at 2:52 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
When the expertise of human rights activists combines w/ legal knowledge to make life better in Northern Ireland, the feeling is electric!

⚡️Join us to celebrate these #PublicInterest defenders.⚡️

Thurs 16 Oct - 17.30 - @BelfastExposed

RSVP: pilsni.org/events/pils-autumn-social-2025/
September 12, 2025 at 11:13 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
Our right to protest must be protected!

Join us for the Derry launch of 'Know Your Rights to Protest'. It's the first NI-specific guide on the topic, written for local organisers.

🗓️23 Sept @ 17.30 @museumfreederry.bsky.social

@cajni.bsky.social
@friendsofearthni.bsky.social
@ejni.bsky.social
The protest guide is held up by a guest at the Belfast launch, with other guests chatting in the background.
September 9, 2025 at 10:53 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
Join changemakers, activists, and lawyers at PILS' Autumn Social 2025!

🗓️Thurs 16 Oct 2025 @ 17.30
📍Belfast Exposed
🗣️Special guest speaker: @john-wadham.bsky.social

Registration is open NOW. pilsni.org/events/pils-autumn-social-2025/

#PublicInterestLitigation #HumanRights #PILSAutumnSocial
September 4, 2025 at 10:04 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
When our members had Q's about navigating the #FreedomOfInformation process, PILS partnered w/ @infocommission.bsky.social to run a FREE training session.

PILS design training for our members, *with* our members!

Tell us your training needs today: forms.office.com/e/TDWJQyn1Zd
Kate Barry (PILS) is standing in the middle of a large room, surrounded by PILS members sitting at round tables, taking notes. PILS' training needs survey 2025
September 1, 2025 at 9:37 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
📣Tell us what your organisation needs 📣

Our short survey (under 5 minutes!) asks PILS members about your #training priorities. Whether you’re a long-time PILS member or new to our network, we’d love to hear from you.

Take the survey: forms.office.com/e/TDWJQyn1Zd
August 28, 2025 at 11:20 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
📣 Challenge launched 📣

Save Our Sperrins have applied to judicially review the Dept. for the Economy’s decision to grant several mineral prospecting licences.

✅️Papers signed
✅️Court fee paid
✅️ PILS acting as SOS' solicitor

Now, we wait for the Department’s response...

#PublicInterestLitigation
Save our Sperrins Jackie, Fidelma and Cormac with PILS' Kate Barry outside the Royal Courts of Justice.
August 8, 2025 at 9:59 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
Happy 10th Anniversary to the Save Our Sperrins campaign!

Thank you for inviting us to be part of your creative, emotional and uplifting celebration earlier this week.

If you want to know more, their latest podcast traces the arc of the SOS campaign since 2015:

www.podbean.com/media/share/...
Image description A colourful, embroidered banner, hanging from a stone wall, reads 'Don't Mine Us' Fidelma and Marella get a standing ovation at the SOS 10th Anniversary event.
July 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
The @pilsni.bsky.social team will be back online on Wednesday 16 July 2025.

If you have questions about #PublicInterestLitigation in the meantime, here are some resources that we hope you find helpful:

1️⃣ pilsni.org/frequently-asked-questions/
2️⃣ pilsni.org/services-provided/
3️⃣ pilsni.org/toolkit/
A post-it note is stuck onto a bright green background. It says PILS Closed Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 July 2025.
July 11, 2025 at 12:00 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
The US/UKFulbright vision = a world without barriers to learning & collaboration.

It's safe to say that Nate Johnson embodied that during his time in NI. While at @ulsterunischlaw.bsky.social, he joined PILS as a research intern. Huge thanks to Nate (pictured on his last office day!) 👏
Nate stands outside the PILS office, pointing at our logo on the door of Community House. Nate is a white man with glasses and is smiling cheerfully.
June 30, 2025 at 9:10 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
To paraphrase Mary Robinson, the Good Friday Agreement moved #equality 'from the margins to the mainstream'.

Dr. Robbie McVeigh's new report for @equalitycoalition.bsky.social examines councils' use of Section 75 and 'call-in' to see whether that is still the case:

caj.org.uk/publications...
The front cover of the report is being held up outside Parliament Buildings at Stormont, with the skyline of Belfast in the background. The expert panel of speakers at the report launch are all sitting on chairs at the front of the room, in front of a colourful Equality Coalition banner. Patricia and Daniel from the Equality Coalition opening the event.
June 27, 2025 at 1:45 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
📣Calling #immigration and #asylum lawyers in #NorthernIreland

Our COI Report Scheme, in partnership with law firm Clifford Chance, gives you access to:
✅high-quality country of origin information
🗓️within a matter of weeks
🎉all on a pro bono - free - basis

Want to know more? pilsni.org/contact/
June 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
Dig where you stand!" Bernadette McAliskey told
@playthinkbrink.bsky.social at the weekend.

🌱Powerful, long-lasting #change grows from within communities.

Thank you @sci-belfast.bsky.social @ejni.bsky.social for inviting PILS to join you on Friday at both your events to talk sustainable change.
Teresa, Kate and Shauna sit in a row of chairs, deep in conversation. Maureen Hamblin and her fellow experts sit in a row of chairs, deep in conversation. Dr Ciara Brennan addresses EJNI's meeting. John, Emma, Bernadette and Shauna talk about 'Beautiful Trouble' at Brink in Belfast.
June 23, 2025 at 11:40 AM
pilsni.bsky.social
✨We're on "...a constant quest for sources of hope..."✨

@justrightscot.bsky.social's Emma Hutton opening last week's 'Using the Law for Social Change' Residential⤴️

Thank you to hosts JRS, LSA, @clanchildlaw.org ERCS & Baring for creating another source of hope!

www.linkedin.com/pulse/thank-...
Jen Ang, human rights lawyer and all-round star, is speaking to the Glasgow Residential participants. The Social Hub in Glasgow. The sun is shining brightly, reflecting off the water of the North Channel. The white handrail of the passenger ferry is bright white against the deep blue of the sea. A colourful piece of street art in Glasgow reads: Inform women, transform lives
June 18, 2025 at 3:08 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
"When human rights are under attack, what do we do?
Stand up! Fight back!"

The Know Your Rights Guide to Protest launch = this Wednesday.

Join PILS, CAJ @friendsofearthni.bsky.social @ejni.bsky.social

🎫 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/know-your-...
Lots of icons cover a dark green background, some are people holding placards, some are speech bubbles, some are raised fists and hands waving megaphones. The Know Your Rights to Protest Guide launch is happening on 04 June from 17.30 at 2 Royal Ave, Belfast.
June 2, 2025 at 1:47 PM
pilsni.bsky.social
PILS have been incredibly fortunate to have had the NI Human Rights Fund's backing since 2015.

We're ready to face the next 10 years alongside new fellow grantees, as hungry as ever to hold power to account using legal tools!

#NIHRF #StrategicLitigation #PublicInterest #HumanRights
A TV at 'Looking Back, Moving Forward' displays the NI Human Rights Fund's new branding. The room at 'Looking Back, Moving Forward' is full of people sitting around circular tables, celebrating the relaunch of the NI Human Rights Fund. A TV at 'Looking Back, Moving Forward' shows a video, celebrating the relaunch of the NI Human Rights Fund.
May 8, 2025 at 4:15 PM