The Fort Foundation
A woman came to one of our legal camps not long ago. Her husband had passed away and his family had already divided the land between themselves, without giving her any share. She had gone to two lawyers before she found us, and both asked for fees she simply could not pay on her own. By the time she reached us she had already given up. She thought the land was gone for good and just wanted to know if there was anything left to do.
There was something to do. It took a few months and it was not easy, but she got her share in the end.
This is the reason our legal aid program exists. Getting a case resolved in Pakistan can take a long time. As of 2025, there were about 1.86 million cases pending in the district courts alone, out of roughly 2.25 million pending across the whole court system, so most of that backlog sits right at the level where ordinary people’s cases usually start.
On the World Justice Project’s 2025 Rule of Law Index, Pakistan ranks 130th out of 143 countries overall, and 129th specifically in civil justice, which is the category that covers most of what our legal team works on.
These numbers matter because they show how much patience and persistence a case can already need, even before you think about the cost of a lawyer.
And money is the bigger problem for most people. A private lawyer costs more than most families can afford, especially for something like a land dispute or a custody case.
So a lot of people just don’t go to court at all. They accept whatever they were given, even if it’s unfair, because paying a lawyer could cost more than they earn in a year.
For them, it isn’t really a choice.
This is where our legal team comes in. We have our own lawyers who take on cases at lower rates, and in many cases for free, depending on what the family can afford.
It isn’t about doing someone a favor. It’s about making sure a person’s legal right doesn’t disappear just because they’re poor.
We don’t say no to a case just because it doesn’t fit a certain type. If someone comes to us with a real legal problem, our lawyers look into it honestly and tell them if we can help.
Some of the most common cases are about:
Child custody
Guardianship after the death of a parent
Women’s inheritance rights
Dowry-related disputes
Land disputes
Property taken unfairly from a family
But we also take on cases that don’t fall into any of these, because the point was never to only help with certain kinds of problems.
The point is to help anyone who has nowhere else to turn.
So far we’ve helped more than 1,500 people through our legal services.
Some cases were solved with one meeting and a letter. Others took years, going through appeal after appeal in a system that moves slowly no matter how simple the case is.
Legal aid takes up about 18 percent of our total program budget, which is a big share, mostly because these cases take a long time and our lawyers’ time still has real cost even when the client pays nothing.
One thing our lawyers say again and again is that a lot of people had a real legal case, sometimes a strong one, but never even tried, because nobody told them they had a right to try.
Or because the one time they asked a lawyer what it would cost, the answer scared them off completely.
So a big part of this work isn’t even about the courtroom. It’s just that first conversation where someone learns, maybe for the first time, that what happened to them wasn’t right, and that something can actually be done about it.
About 54 percent of women in Pakistan can read and write, compared to 73 percent of men, according to the latest government economic survey.
A lot of the women who come to us are trying to understand the legal system and their own case at the same time, which is a lot to handle at once.
So our team spends real time explaining things simply, step by step, so a woman understands what is actually happening in her case instead of just trusting someone else to handle it for her.
That part matters as much as anything we argue in court.
We don’t win every case. Sometimes the evidence isn’t strong enough, or the other side simply has more money and better lawyers.
But even when we lose, the person at least got heard properly, which for many of our clients is more than they expected walking in.
How much a family pays, if anything, depends on the case and their situation.
Some pay a small amount toward paperwork or court costs. Others, especially widows or very poor families, pay nothing at all, and we cover the full cost ourselves.
Our lawyers decide this after actually sitting with the family and understanding their situation, not by following some fixed rule, because two families with the same kind of case can be in very different situations financially.
A lot of our cases start in a small way.
Someone hears about our legal camp from a neighbor, or a relative, and comes just to ask a question, not even sure if it counts as a real legal problem.
Our lawyers sit and listen first, before deciding anything.
Sometimes it turns out to be a quick fix — a form that was never filed, a paper that was never signed properly. Other times it’s the start of a long case.
Either way, that first conversation is free, and nobody is turned away just for asking.
If you’re a lawyer who wants to do work that actually matters, or your firm wants to support cases like these, or you simply want to help fund legal aid for people who have nowhere else to go, we would love to hear from you.
Justice shouldn’t only belong to people who can afford it.
We’re trying, one case at a time, to make that a little less true.
