We were founded in 1997 as the Solicitors Pro Bono Group, but today’s legal services landscape scarcely resembles that of two decades ago, so the context of pro bono has changed and evolved. Access to justice has become more of a challenge following cuts to the scope of legal aid, and today’s lawyers now have to deal with levels of student debt, regulatory change, technological innovation, and transformation of business models that could not have been anticipated by our founders.
Recent political events on both sides of the Atlantic have opened up new debates about the rule of law; the voice and contribution of pro bono in this has never been more important – consider for example the response of the US legal community to the plight of travellers caught up by the Trump administration’s recent executive order. In the UK Brexit is presenting a range of issues for UK based multi-jurisdictional practices, and may yet present many more issues for migration, EU citizens’ rights and cross-border consumer transactions. I detect a still growing appetite on behalf of UK lawyers to engage in the public debate, and exercise a stronger voice on matters of access to justice and the protection of fundamental rights.
Pro bono is moving forward in England and Wales, and last year saw the launch of the Pro Bono Charter and Manual, both initiatives on which we worked closely with the Law Society on, and also the launch of a new All Party Parliamentary Group on Pro Bono. However, in moving pro bono forwards it is essential that we put out the message that pro bono cannot and should not be expected to replace a publicly funded legal aid scheme – this is not an either/or debate; we need more legal aid as well as more targeted pro bono work, and we will be making this point to the Ministry of Justice’s review of their legal aid reforms. So it is essential that pro bono has its own policy voice, to explain to policy makers both the possibilities and limitations of pro bono.
Other ways we have been supporting pro bono include our secondary specialisation programme, our work with the Litigants in Person Support Strategy, our Not-for-Profits programme, and our increased support for the growing number of independent clinics. We have expanded our regional staff to help us work with Law Schools and regional firms in supporting and growing the clinics network, whilst back at HQ we have increased our collaboration with partners at the National Pro Bono Centre, streamlined our governance and created a new Policy and External Affairs team to lead our outward facing engagement and events. Moving into our 20th year it is important that we listen, engage and support our members and others - to ensure pro bono’s contribution is strong and responsive, and that achievement and commitment is celebrated.
Martin Barnes, Chief Executive