The Solicitors Pro Bono Group – Information Sheet
Rationale
It is well-recognized that timely, legal advice available to all contributes to the well-being of society and promotes social inclusion. Pro bono legal advice and assistance is an adjunct to, not a substitute for, a proper system of publicly funded legal services. However, many people do not have access to public funding, either because they earn marginally more than the upper limit for access to public funding, possibly being capital ‘rich’ and income ‘poor’, or because the type of advice they need is ineligible.
BACKGROUND
The Solicitors Pro Bono Group is an independent charity formed in 1997, having been initiated by Lord Phillips of Sudbury, founding Chairman of the Citizenship Foundation. He remains as President of the Charity with Paul Newdick, a partner at Clyde & Co, as Chairman.
SPBG is a registered charity and its mission is: ‘To increase the delivery of voluntary legal services to clients, individuals and communities in need by encouraging, supporting and facilitating lawyers to do pro bono work.’ As a result, members of the public and not-for-profit organisations which are not in a position to be able to pay for legal assistance are able to access high quality free legal advice. The charity aims to fulfill its mission through a variety of projects, all of which come under the ‘LawWorks’ banner; LawWorks Students, LawWorks Clinics, LawWorks Web, LawWorks for Community Groups and LawWorks Mediation.
Projects
· LawWorks Students works to encourage students to participate in pro bono work from the earliest stage of their legal careers.
· LawWorks Seniors utilizes the skill and experience of senior lawyers coming to the end of their career in a range of projects.
· LawWorks Clinics establishes legal advice sessions in advice agencies which are staffed by lawyers doing pro bono work. Training in aspects of social welfare law is provided to volunteer lawyers.
· LawWorks Web delivers initial advice through the medium of the internet, and also provides in depth advice or representation for individuals where this is required.
· LawWorks for Community Groups provides non-urgent, non-contentious legal assistance to not-for-profit organisations, which would not otherwise be able to afford this help, through a network of volunteer lawyers.
· LawWorks Mediation arranges pro bono mediations, providing mediators and legal advisers in cases where at least one of the parties cannot afford to pay. All mediators are lawyers who have trained with one of the leading mediation trainers.
SPBG is a membership based organisation, with membership fees providing core funding. Many of the leading law firms as well as smaller firms and in-house legal departments are our members, and we now have an active programme to encourage firms in the regions to become involved. Our projects need to attract their own funding, and they have been supported by government, grant making trusts, corporate bodies and law firms.
Lawyers’ participation in pro bono plays a major role in their corporate social responsibility which is high on the agenda for 21st century lawyers and their clients. Businesses and the professions must increasingly measure and evaluate their role in the wider community. In addition, students arriving in the profession have had wider exposure than ever before to the meaning of citizenship and their role in society, and often lead the way in promoting pro bono. Lawyers from overseas, particularly from the USA, are used to undertaking pro bono work and expect to do so throughout their working life.
In our experience there are many law students, lawyers and law firms keen and willing to undertake pro bono work, but wanting to do this in a structured way which makes best use of their skills and talents. The SPBG offers structure and opportunity through our projects for a wide range of legal assistance, provided by the lawyers either from their desks, as in the Web based projects, or direct with the public in our Clinics. SPBG acts as a facilitator, matching volunteers with those in need, for the benefit of both groups.