Helping hands

As the Pro Bono Recognition List of England and Wales recognises the contribution of Chartered Legal Executives, Catherine Baksi talks to those dedicating their time to giving free legal advice about how they are making a difference

Thousands of people each year have a legal problem that they are not able to get help with because they cannot afford a lawyer.

Cuts to legal aid by governments of both colours have increased the problem – especially since the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2013 came into force, removing public funding for many areas of legal advice.

The inability to get legal advice exacerbates problems and causes poverty, homelessness, ill health, unemployment, broken households, and other social and personal difficulties.

While pro bono, or free work is not a substitute for a properly funded system of legal aid, the hours dedicated by Chartered Legal Executives, solicitors and barristers are vital to ensuring access to justice for thousands of people each year.

The second annual Pro Bono Recognition List of England and Wales, celebrating and recognising those lawyers who have given 25 or more hours of pro bono legal assistance over the previous calendar year, was expanded this year to include Chartered Legal Executives, SRA-registered foreign lawyers and registered European lawyers, as well as solicitors and barristers.

Among the 4,780 lawyers across England and Wales recognised for their dedication to providing pro bono services, 137 were Chartered Legal Executives.

Justice for all

Promoting pro bono work as “a core part of ensuring access to justice for all”, the Solicitor General Lucy Rigby KC, who chairs the Attorney General’s pro bono committee, praises the work of lawyers: “Legal professionals selflessly donate their time to advise and support people, charities or community groups, making a real impact.”

The list's patron and Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, adds: “The judiciary sees first-hand the importance of pro bono advice and representation in assisting those who might not otherwise receive legal help.”

She hopes that recognition on the list encourages the legal profession to continue its commitment to providing pro bono help to those in need.

By including Chartered Legal Executives and CILEX Lawyers, as well as other practitioners, for the first time, CILEX president Sara Fowler says that the list “acknowledges the vital contributions made by a broader spectrum of the legal profession”.

Hoping that the number of CILEX members on the list will grow, Toby Brown, chair of the steering group of the Attorney General’s pro bono committee, says: “Like solicitors and barristers, Chartered Legal Executives can make a real difference to communities by providing a range of pro bono legal advice to those in need.”

Not all about profit

CILEX practitioners working across the legal spectrum from small high street firms to large City practices do a wide range of pro bono work.

Ian Hunt, Chartered Legal Executive and managing partner at private client firm East Devon Law, is one of those on the recognition list.

“I regard being a lawyer as a vocation and therefore it is not all about profit but also helping people with the difficulties,” he says.

He provides pro bono advice through legal clinics for the local hospice and a community group supporting elderly people. The clinics run on a monthly basis and offer half an hour's free advice to help people resolve their issues or signpost them to where they can get further advice.

“Access to justice is a very hot topic and, with the increasing pressure on people's budgets, being able to access some initial advice and being told whether or not there is any merit in there proves invaluable,” says Mr Hunt.

In his specialist area of wills and probate, he also offers free advice and support to a number of local charities, helping them with legacy provision or assisting them in administering estates of which they are beneficiaries.

In addition, he provides services to support orphaned children where they are beneficiaries of the estates that the firm is dealing with, and has several cases where he has continued to support the young person after the guardianship period has ended.

“Those firms that do not encourage staff to undertake such work are taking a short-sighted approach”

“As I own and run my own law firm, I obviously have the freedom to do as much pro bono as I choose which other lawyers in traditional firms may not have,” accepts Mr Hunt.

He suggests, however, that those firms that do not encourage staff to undertake such work are taking a “short-sighted approach”, arguing that as well as helping people in need, pro bono can raise the profile of the firm and sometimes even result in referrals for fee-paying work.

Commending it to all CILEX lawyers, he says: “If you can give up one hour a month to support a local group or cause, or provide help at legal clinics, this makes a huge difference to those involved and for access to justice for all regardless of circumstance.”

Life-changing advice

Kim Findlow, recently elected as CILEX’s vice-president, is a senior associate at global law firm Eversheds Sutherland. The firm has an aspirational target of 25 pro bono hours per year and has 86 lawyers on the recognition list.

Ms Findlow explains that she grew up in an area with low employment prospects and opportunity. “I therefore consider it important to give back to those who may struggle to get the support they need,” she explains. “Access to justice is important to all and should be accessible to all, regardless of status or background.”

While she has worked in employment and discrimination law for the past 11 years, her pro bono work with the charity Kids in Need of Defense UK involves immigration. She helps to prepare and submit applications for British citizenship to the Home Office on behalf of undocumented children and young people in need of legal support, but without the resources to pay.

“Getting citizenship can be truly life-changing for these young people, as they can access work, higher education and all life’s opportunities when they become adults,” says Ms Findlow. “For some, it even means ending the risk of being deported to a country they have never known.”

She stresses, however, that pro bono is not all about providing advice – law firms can work on initiatives that encourage policy change in relation to access to justice.

In 2023, volunteers from Eversheds Sutherland worked in collaboration with LawWorks, the pro bono charity, and three other law firms to investigate levels of unmet legal need highlighted in MPs’ surgeries.

The resulting Mind the Gap report and an earlier study led by international law firm Hogan Lovells, she says, “provided a vital contribution to on-going discussions about the legal advice needs of people across England and Wales”.

Fairness and transparency

Abi Reynolds is a Chartered Legal Executive and associate at London firm Mishcon de Reya, specialising in employment law. She says: “Pro bono work has been a huge part of my working life throughout my career.”

She started off giving free 30-minute appointments to members of the general public and since then has been working with a number of organisations pro bono.

Last year, the majority of her pro bono work was with the Anglia Ruskin University Law Clinic, where lawyers and students provide free, independent and confidential legal advice across Cambridge, Chelmsford and, through a Zoom service, the UK more widely.

Ms Reynolds was also among the firm’s team representing two claimants who sought an injunction challenging an appointment of a general secretary by a teachers’ union, which resulted in nominations for the post being reopened.

“Cases like this are so important, not just for the clients, but for the wider community,” she says, adding that the firm secured “an outcome that promoted fairness and transparency”.

Encouraging others to get involved, Ms Reynolds says: “Pro bono work is a great way not only to develop your own experience and reputation, but also to allow you to give back.”

Finding time to do pro bono work can be hard, but she echoes Mr Hunt, stressing that it does not have to take up all of your time – “even half an hour can make a difference”.

Mishcon de Reya, she says, “acknowledges and recognises the importance of pro bono work” and has a policy where a certain number of hours spent giving back to the community are offset against fee-earners’ billable hours target.

“This kind of approach, as well as allowing flexibility so pro bono work can be undertaken around a usual schedule, will really help to encourage people to give their time to those who need it most,” says Ms Reynolds.

She is pleased that CILEX members are being recognised on the pro bono list: “There are so many of us out there doing such great things alongside our dedicated solicitor and barrister colleagues, so we should all be able to shout it from the rooftops.”

Gaining experience

Amy Maddocks recently qualified as a Chartered Legal Executive and works in the travel team at the global law firm Clyde & Co. Before joining the firm, she had never done any pro bono work but was keen to get involved to use her skills to help others and gain experience in other areas of law.

In common with some other firms, Clyde & Co has a policy where a portion of time spent on pro bono projects can count towards billable hours.

With the firm, she is involved with two charities: Not Beyond Redemption, which provides family law advice and representation to mothers in prison to help them re-establish relationships with their children, and Amicus, which provides legal assistance to individuals facing a death sentence in the United States.

Amicus provides legal assistance to individuals facing a death penalty in the United States

Ms Maddocks gets a great deal of satisfaction from doing the work. If the first charity was not there, she says, “there would be mothers out there with no relationship with their children, as this kind of legal advice would not be easily accessible to them”.

The time spent doing pro bono work can vary. “For example, my first case with Not Beyond Redemption involved a matter where there had already been care proceedings and there was an order in place to which the guardians where not complying. This simply involved a couple of letters and emails to the guardians reminding them of their duty to comply.”

But, in her most recent case with the charity, she says: “There had been no contact for a long time and there was no specific plan in place for contact, so this involved tracing the guardians and liaising between the mother in prison and the guardians to come to an agreement that was beneficial to the child and met the mother’s needs.”

Working with Amicus, she explains, she is not only helping with criminal matters, but in a completely different legal system, either trying to prove that the person is innocent or establishing why they should not be given the death penalty. “The work usually involves going through many pages of paperwork to look for information to assist the attorneys putting together the case.”

Accommodating pro bono hours

Ms Fowler acknowledges that it can be tricky to balance pro bono work alongside other professional and personal commitments and that a lack of training can be a barrier for more junior lawyers.

“It can be tricky to balance pro bono work alongside other professional and personal commitments and a lack of training can be a barrier for more junior lawyers” “Firms can help by including pro bono in billable hours targets and offering flexible working arrangements that give lawyers the opportunity to attend law clinics and pro bono activities,” she suggests.

CILEX is not in favour of targets or mandatory pro bono hours. “With many firms already facing increased costs and limited funding, especially in the case of legal aid providers, we would not want to see the additional pressure mandatory targets would bring,” says Ms Fowler.

But she is eager for more Chartered Legal Executives to consider what they could do. “CILEX has always regarded pro bono work as a natural and integral part of a lawyer’s professional practice and we hope that the majority of legal services providers also see it as part of the culture within their firm.”