The Bar Pro Bono Unit acts as a clearing house, matching barristers prepared to undertake pro bono work with those who cannot afford to pay for the assistance sought or obtain public funding, and need the help a barrister can provide. The Unit has a pre-volunteered panel of approximately 2,400 barristers, of which 364 are Queens’ Counsel.

Bar in the Community is a project that the Bar Pro Bono Unit undertakes to encourage lawyers, clerks and law students to participate in volunteering that uses their legal skills but does not give legal advice. One of the main roles through this is becoming a trustee but other opportunities have included discrimination advisor mentoring, mock trial competitions and debating projects.

LawWorks is a charity which aims to provide free legal help to individuals and community groups who cannot afford to pay for it and who are unable to access legal aid. In the last year LawWorks helped provide free legal advice to over 40,000 people and around 350 voluntary sector organisations.

The organisation works with just over 100 member law firms and teams of in-house counsel, as well as mediators, law students and solicitors who have been made redundant, involving them all in pro bono work. LawWorks is the operating name of the Solicitors’ Pro Bono Group.

The aim of the ILEX Pro Bono Forum is to demonstrate and develop ILEX’s commitment to pro bono work. Members of the Forum consist of Council Members and Members and Officers of ILEX. The Forum now works closely with the other legal pro bono providers to co-ordinate and complement the many different pro bono projects which operate both nationally and internationally.

ILEX is also a joint sponsor of National Pro Bono Week and the National Pro Bono Conference. National Pro Bono Week promotes and highlights pro bono activities taking place across the profession and the National Pro Bono Conference brings together those in the pro bono community to discuss issues within pro bono.

The Access to Justice Foundation was established by the legal profession to receive and distribute additional financial resources to help get free of charge legal assistance to those who need it most (see our aims).

The Foundation receives monies raised by schemes: pro bono costs under s.194 Legal Services Act 2007; and unclaimed client account balances. Taking a strategic view, it will distribute those monies to Regional Legal Support Trusts, to the national pro bono organisations, and to projects. The Regional Trusts will in turn distribute to local advice agencies and law centres. The initiative therefore supports the overall effort to provide practical “access to justice” to those unable to afford help.

London Legal Support Trust raises funds to maintain legal advice centres and pro bono services in London and the South East. We support more than 70 agencies in the region and In 2011 we raised over £600,000 mainly from our regular sponsored events which include:-

London Legal sponsored walk- a 10km after work walk in May.
Walk the Thames – 40 miles over 2 days in February.
LLST tandem skydive- a Springtime leap from an aeroplane.
LLST Halloween Ball- Huge fun while raising funds for the charity

We also host fundraising walks in Guildford, Newbury, Hastings, Brighton , Eastbourne and Luxembourg!

i‑Probono is the first online network to connect organisations in need of legal assistance with lawyers and students who want to use their legal skills for the public good