This week, lawyers Emma Portelli Bonnici and Martina Caruana announced they have teamed up to launch their very own boutique legal firm, PB&C.
They are known for their activism, both among NGO circles fighting for minority rights and gender equality, as well as among political circles, specifically within the Nationalist Party.
Both just shy of turning 30, Dr Portelli Bonnici first graduated as a lawyer at the University of Malta, and then furthered her studies by graduating from a Masters with distinction in International Maritime Law with the IMO International Maritime Law Institute.
Dr Caruana also received her Doctor of Laws at Malta’s University and went on to further her studies in public international law and human rights at the University of Cambridge.
Both having worked at top tier legal firms on the island, and each have excelled in NGO work to champion causes close to their hearts, such as women’s rights, migrants’ rights, minority rights and equality.
Joining their professional experience and skills together with their activist roots, the lawyers have now joined together to form a practice that promises to excel at legal areas such as gender-based violence and sexual assault, human rights laws, public international law, EU and regulatory law, the law of the sea & marine litigation, contract & commercial law, employment, discrimination & equality law, human rights in business, pharmaceutical law, medical law & ethics, art, culture & IP law, media law & information law and inheritance & succession law.
Speaking to WhosWho.mt, the pair share that idea for PB&C began after they started working together on one-off cases and has been in the pipeline since early 2021.
“We had known each other since our University days, and we had both featured in women’s empowerment videos as women’s rights activists while we were still students,” they share.
As they put it, last year, it had become increasingly apparent that their values, vision and the way they advocate for clients are aligned.
“We truly enjoyed working together.”
Dr Portelli Bonnici and Dr Caruana say that they came to the realisation of how well they complement each other, both in personality and in general demeanour.
“Setting up PB&C seemed like the natural next step for us.”
A leading goal for both lawyers is to move beyond a typical culture found in traditional firms, which lend themselves to “systemic drawbacks within the legal industry”.
The pair place a lot of weight on treating clients as humans, and the role a lawyer plays in assisting and supporting clients through situations that are often highly stressful and sensitive.
Asked what a typical client for the firm looks like, they share:
“Our clients are incredibly diverse and hail from all walks of life. We advise individual clients, NGOs, activists and organisations who align with our values.
“Our target client is one that seeks out legal representatives that truly understand them, and that do not chalk them up to a number and apply a one-size-fits-all approach to every case.”
They lay stress on providing individual attention and tailor-made plans, a major selling-point for smaller outfits.
“We also focus on trauma-informed lawyering, which allows us to recognise the role that trauma plays in the lawyer-client relationship and how that impacts the progression and development of the case.”
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