National Pro Bono Week 2009

National Pro Bono Week 2009 was a roller coaster of events up and down the country, which were kicked off spectacularly by the Joint National Pro Bono Conference, which for the first time took place over two days on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 November.

Joint National Pro Bono Conference
Day one took place at Friends House in London and day two at the Civil Justice Centre in Manchester, with a pro bono train carriage (courtesy of Virgin Trains) transporting us in style between the two.

Both days were fantastically well attended (the London delegation were even joined by a rogue pro bono pigeon at one stage!) and delegates were treated to inspiring speeches from Lord Bach, Lord Phillips of Sudbury and Solicitor General Vera Baird as well as being able to choose between a wide variety of workshops including:

• Standing Alone: pro bono support for the litigant in person
• Laying the Foundations/Taking the first steps: Starting your own pro bono scheme
• Prevention is better than cure: Public Legal Education in the recession
• The Economic Downturn - Impact on pro bono
• Wider Horizons: International Pro Bono

To download the full programmes please click on the links below:
London
Manchester

Thanks to all who attended and help to make both days really inspirational.

Toynbee Hall
The two day Conference was followed on the Wednesday by a new event for social entrepreneurs at Toynbee Hall which provided them with access to free professional help and advice through workshops on areas of law such as intellectual property and employment, followed by a reception and exhibition.

Junior Lawyers Division Awards
On Thursday the Junior Lawyers Division Awards took place at the Law Society, preceded by a lively debate between Lord Phillips of Sudbury, Heidi Sandy, Chair of the JLD and David Howarth, Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary and Chaired by Jason Hadden of Kaplan Law School on whether pro bono work should be made compulsory for all lawyers.  For more information on the event and to see the winners click here.

ALLIES
Thursday proved to be an action packed day as up in Norwich another event was run, this time as part of the ALLIES (A Local Lawyer in Every School) scheme.  Both Charles Clarke, MP for Norwich South and former Secretary of State for Education, and Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, attended the event along with many current school governors and lawyers interested in becoming governors.  For more information on ALLIES please click here.

Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX)
On Friday the week was wrapped up nicely by a series of ILEX run events in Bournemouth, including a series of lectures and a reception to celebrate the launch of the South West Legal Support Trust.  For more information on the South West Legal Support Trust please click here.

Everything Else!
Of course all the events listed above were interspersed with all of the wonderful pro bono activities that happened, and continued to happen, all around the country.  Many thanks to everyone who uploaded their events to the the events calendar on ProBonoUK.net - it was brilliant to see how much is going on.  Click here if you would like to see the full list of registered events.