Pro bono week begins next Monday with a host of events across the country to celebrate work done by lawyers to help their communities.
Last month saw the opening of the new pro bono centre in London, which brings together in one place the pro bono offerings of LawWorks (the solicitors pro bono group), the Bar Pro Bono Unit and ILEX Pro Bono Forum.
Being part of the community and giving something back to it ‘pro bono’ has long been a tradition within the legal profession. That sense of belonging and service, it would seem, is at the heart of the coalition’s plans for the Big Society, which envisages volunteers meeting the needs of their own communities as government coffers run dry.
But there is a dark shadow on the horizon. Pro bono work, it has always been stressed, is not a replacement for a properly funded legal aid scheme – it is the government’s responsibility to ensure everyone has access to good quality legal advice and representation, even where people cannot afford to pay for it.
Yet pro bono is increasingly filling the gaps where this does not happen. My concern is that, as the government cuts back the scope of legal aid and further limits eligibility – while cutting hundreds of millions from the budget – those gaps will become larger and the pro bono community will be expected to fill them. Will we end up with a ‘postcode lottery’ for access to justice?
A new collection of essays written by eminent lawyers and others offers a ‘critical friend’s’ outlook on pro bono and considers whether the profession’s altruism may be having unintended consequences. I recommend it to you, though it does not always make comfortable reading.
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