Editorial
A huge thank you to everyone who supported the range of events that took place in National Pro Bono Week this year – starting with the Conference.  There is a more detailed report in the newsletter below, but the numbers attending both days and the quality of debate were both extremely encouraging and inspiring.   Another highlight of the week was the launch in Norwich of ALLIES, the initiative to promote lawyers as school governors.   This was another very successful event and I was delighted, two weeks later, to receive on behalf of ALLIES an award of recognition from the School Governors’ One Stop Shop.  Still on the same subject, please read our inaugural “Governor of the Month” feature, which focuses this month on Barry O’Brien from Freshfields.  If there are unsung governor heroes in your firm, please contact us so that we can feature them in future editions.

November also saw the inaugural joint training day, held by LawWorks, the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the RCJ Advice Bureau.  A full report is in the newsletter below.  The event was a tribute to the ever-strengthening partnership between the charities involved.

2009 has not been an easy year for the legal profession or the wider community.  I’d like to end it by thanking every single person who has tried to help those who needed advice and support in very difficult times.  You have made a difference and will continue to make a difference where it most matters and your contributions are a cause for inspiration to me and others every day.  I wish for you, for all of us and everyone a gentler and easier year in 2010.  Happy Christmas and have a peaceful break.

Rebecca Hilsenrath

Joint National Pro Bono Conference 2009
On Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 November the 2009 Joint National Pro Bono Conference took place, launching National Pro Bono Week. Day one was held 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 (we 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

If you attended the Conference many thanks for taking part and we hope you enjoyed the experience. We really appreciate your feedback so if you haven’t yet completed the feedback form that was sent out, please do so.

The Pro Bono Train	Workshop	Lord Phillips delivers the closing speech
Workshop	Workshop	The Conference Organising Committee

National Pro Bono Week 2009 – 9 to 13 November 2009
National Pro Bono Week got off to a fantastic start this year with the double Conference on Monday and Tuesday. The two day event 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.

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 visit http://juniorlawyers.lawsociety.org.uk/node/834.

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.

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.

Of course these events were interspersed with all of the wonderful pro bono activities that were happening, and continue to happen, all around the Country. Many thanks to those of you who uploaded your events to the events calendar on ProBonoUK.net - It was brilliant to see how much is going on. If you would like to see the full list of events please click here.

Governor of the month - Barry O’Brien
1. How long have you been on the governing body?
18 months

2. What are your particular areas of responsibility or interest on the governing body?
I’m the chair of governors at Haggerston School, an all girls comprehensive in Hackney with plans to introduce a sixth form and open its doors to boys for the first time in September 2010. It also has plans to remodel and redesign the school under the Building Schools for the Future scheme.

3. How has your firm supported your involvement with the school?
Freshfields have had a very long standing relationship with Haggerston that goes back over 10 years. We have a mentoring programme and offer language support so sitting on the board seemed a very natural extension of that relationship. The firm is very supportive of this very important part of our community investment programme.

4. What have you learned from being a governor?
I suppose the main thing I’ve learned is how difficult and complicated being a head teacher or member of senior leadership at a school is. Not only do you have to be a great teacher but also a manager, a lawyer, an architect, an accountant and deal with health and safety. They deal with many of these issues on a day to day basis and it almost humbles you in terms of the lack of support they have. For example, here at Freshfields, if you have an IT problem you have an IT expert and if you’ve got an HR problem you’ve got an HR expert but in a school you have to do it all yourself. It’s incredible.

5. What was the greatest challenge?
I took over the chair in rather quite unusual circumstances when the headmistress left at the end of last term and it’s been reasonably challenging ever since. There were strikes going on at the school, the local authority intervened, the chair of governors resigned. So I took it over in a bit of a crisis and it’s been reasonably challenging ever since. But it’s getting better touch wood.

6. Would you recommend it to others?
Oh yes. Your contribution should never be underestimated because you bring another perspective. At Freshfields, we see how a lot of boards of directors in other organisations work and it’s useful to be able to transfer that experience across to a board of governors and help concentrate on the strategic and important issues rather than get bogged down in the day to day details that have to be left to the head teacher and the senior leadership team. Therefore, I think we have a lot more to contribute than we would think.

LawWorks for Community Groups – Feedback Questionnaire
The Community Groups project has just finished collating feedback from two surveys sent out to those charities and not-for-profit community organisations who had received pro bono legal advice, through the project, over a 12 month period.

A total of 324 questionnaires were sent out and approximately 52% of these were completed and returned. The first half of the survey concentrated on the impact being able to access our pro bono legal advice service had on the organisation itself, with the second part asking questions in relation to their experience of the actual service from both the lawyer and LawWorks. Some of the questions and results from these main areas are shown below:

(*of this 9%, 5 groups specifically stated that they had been able to access over £1 million of extra funding (collectively), because of the legal advice they had received)

Over 96% of those who answered the above question also chose to make positive general comments alongside, for example: “excellent” “professional” “comprehensive”. Some also praised individual lawyers and the speed of service.

99% of those who answered the above question also chose to make positive general comments alongside, for example: “prompt and approachable service” “excellent service and support” “friendly and efficient” “professional”. Specific comments were also made about the good speed of service from LawWorks.

Walk the Thames & the London Legal Support Trust 5th Anniversary
A long distance sponsored walk along the Thames was officially launched by the Attorney General at the London Legal Support Trust’s 5th anniversary party, which was hosted at Clifford Chance and was a lovely event. All the key players in the walk’s 5 year history were thanked personally and it’s amazing to think that the events have now raised well over £1 million in total.

The Thames Walk, which was introduced last year is a more challenging version of the usual big walk in May. The support was such that it will be happening again on 20 & 21 February 2010, for all those of you who fancy a 40 mile challenge over two days! The route runs from the Thames flood barrier to Battersea on day one, and on to Hampton Court on day two.

The early signs are positive with ten teams already registered, including the redoubtable LawWorks trekkers! If you’re keen then make a team or join ours – please e-mail Bob Nightingale on chair@londonlegalsupporttrust.org.uk in order to register your interest.

MemberLaw Firm of the Month

Name of organisation
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

What are the main areas of law practised at this firm?
Antitrust, competition and trade; corporate; dispute resolution; employment, pension and benefits; finance; IP/IT; real estate; tax

When did the organisation start carrying out pro bono work?
We have records of our lawyers volunteering at Toynbee Hall in the 1950s, and a 36-year relationship with Tower Hamlets Law Centre.

How are staff encouraged to become involved in pro bono work?
We provide opportunities both across the office (such as advising at a law centre) and within the practice groups. We treat pro bono time the same as billable time for internal purposes.

What type of pro bono work does the organisation carry out?
Our pro bono practice is focused around four thematic goals:

• promoting human rights and the rule of law;
• improving access to justice;
• reducing homelessness and social exclusion; and
• enhancing the rights, wellbeing and education of disadvantaged children.

To further these goals, we work with a wide variety of clients, from individuals facing the death penalty to large international charities such as Oxfam and Save the Children.

Please give details of a case that illustrates your organisation’s success with pro bono work?
We have recently been advising the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition in relation to its recent report, ‘Closing the Gap’, a consultation document which sets out the group’s proposals to criminalise UK involvement in extraordinary rendition.

Co-ordinator Profile - Paul Yates - Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Where and when did you start at your organisation?
I started as a trainee in February 2006

What is your background?
I trained at Freshfields (including a three-month seat at human rights NGO Liberty) and qualified into the litigation department. I switched to my current role as pro bono manager in September 2008.

What interests do you have outside your work?
Music – I play the piano and, following a previous life in musicology, have maintained an interest in music history and analysis.

When and why did you start taking on the pro bono co-ordinator role?
In September 2008 – it is my dream job.

Tell us about a pro bono case in which you were involved.
I have been involved with the Asylum Support Appeals Project (ASAP), providing advice and representation at the Asylum Support Tribunal to asylum seekers trying to access their limited right to welfare support. I have also joined ASAP’s management committee. It can be very rewarding because most of the clients are destitute and many are street homeless – following a successful appeal they leave with an immediate right to food and shelter.

New Clinic launches
National Pro Bono Week always means the launch of many new pro bono projects and this year was no exception. Here are just a few:

CommuniCare Legal Advice Clinic – a new monthly pro bono service for Reading delivered by East Reading advice charity CommuniCare in partnership with Shoosmiths and the University of Reading. Further information >>

Account3 Community Business Clinic – a fortnightly clinic setup by the Bethnal Green based not for profit cooperative Account3 and Wragge & Co with the assistance of the University House Legal Advice Centre. The clinic will initially run as a pilot and will provide initial advice on areas of business law to not for profit groups and embryonic and new micro businesses in East London. Further information >>

University of Leeds School of Law Legal Advice Clinic – law students will provide written legal advice to local people under supervision of a number of local firms. Further information >>

East Manchester Legal Advice Centre – launched by the University of Manchester and the College of Law in partnership with Manchester Settlement and New East Manchester. Further information >>

Oxford Legal Assistance - a novel new scheme involving students from Oxford University assisting the legal aid practice of local solicitors, Turpin & Miller. Further information >>

More on this in the next Clinics Newsletter.

Manchester PAT
On 25th November, LawWorks for Community Groups held a Practical Advice Talk in Manchester, kindly hosted by Eversheds. The talk lasted half a day and involved sessions on Employment – Discrimination and Data Protection, given by Daniel Allan and Nikki Linney from Eversheds.

11 people attended from 10 community groups. All attendees found the talk very interesting and informative and we would like to thank Eversheds for all their support for this event.

If you are a lawyer experienced in the area of employment, charity, intellectual property or data protection law and would like to assist us with future Practical Advice Talks, please don’t hesitate to contact Megan Pearson for further details.

Harrow Law Centre steering committee seeks volunteer assistance for website development
You may remember seeing the steering committee for Harrow Law Centre out in force at this year’s London Legal Walk.



With fundraising ongoing, the steering committee are keen to develop a web presence. They have registered the domain harrowlawcentre.org.uk and have produced drafts for associated content. The group are now particularly keen to hear from someone with website development experience who may be willing to help them turn their website ideas into reality.

If anyone may be interested in helping, please contact Pamela Fitzpatrick at fitzhaley@ukonline.co.uk

Inaugural training day
On November 18th, over 50 staff from three pro bono charities gathered at the offices of Allen & Overy for the first ever joint training programme.

Months in the planning, the idea behind the event – held by LawWorks, the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the RCJ CAB – was to find an innovative and cost-effective way of delivering staff training and development. Through consultation with partner charities, we hit on the idea of bringing together staff from a number of organisations in order to provide mutual support and learning.

Four sessions were given by various members of the relevant charities on presentation skills (the two Rebeccas – Wilkie (of the Bar Pro Bono Unit) and Hilsenrath), bid-writing (Kathie Clark with James Bank of the RCJ), IT – tips on Excel (Graham – who else?) and handling aggressive calls (Kathie again). The programme included plenary feedback sessions and a networking lunch. We are currently conducting an evaluation process but informal feedback – and the atmosphere on the day – were universally extremely positive.

We are greatly indebted to Allen & Overy, who hosted the sessions and even provided a networking lunch. We are now looking to set up regular training events, which will improve staff development at no cost whilst improving communications and working relationships between the various charities. We may also expand it to take in other charities in the sector.

We hope this will impact on the pro bono sector generally in terms of better working partnerships.

Many thanks to everyone who took part, whether they were speaking, listening, learning or eating!

LawWorks Quiz
Season’s greetings from the LawWorks Quiz Corner. We forgot to congratulate JAMES BANKS last month as he was the sole entrant in our October quiz, and got the answer right! He walks away the proud owner of the Solicitors Pro Bono Group vintage retro vinyl bag.

The answer to the question was of course – Five Star (album debut 1985).

Well done James!

With Christmas upon us it’s time for a bit of festive fun. The prize of course is the same as ever. Who wouldn’t want to be seen out Christmas shopping with a stylish SPBG bag slung casually over their shoulder? A bag that says to other shoppers, “I understand fashion – why not ask me if you’re concerned about that hat going with that mascara?” Indeed.

Here’s the question – a seasonally themed anagram...

ADVANCED ANTLER

All suggested answers by e-mail to martin.curtis@lawworks.org.uk.

RCJ Advice Bureau Carol Service
The RCJ Advice Bureau cordially invites you to join the choirs of St Mary and St Pancras C of E Primary School and St Aloysius RC Junior School, and the brass band of the Holy Trinity and St Silas School, at the annual Christmas Carol Concert in aid of the Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau (charity number 1050358).

Date: Thursday 10th December 2009

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: The Great Hall, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL

Admission to the concert is free and open to all, so please do pass this invitation on to others.

General Enquiries		t: 020-7929-5601	send email
Chief Executive	Rebecca Hilsenrath	t: 020-7929-5601	send email
Administration & Finance	Alero Arueyingho	t: 020-7090-7351	send email
Membership	Anne Monk	t: 020-7929-5601	send email
Business Development	Kathie Clark	t: 020-7090-7365	send email
LawWorks Choices & ALLIES	Lorna Heselton	t: 020-7090-7368	send email
LawWorks Clinics	Richard Harrison	t: 020-7090-7356	send email
LawWorks Clinics	Sarah Cox	t: 020-7090-7361	send email
LawWorks for Community Groups	Alison Ingram	t: 020-7090-7352	send email
LawWorks for Community Groups	Liz Adebajo	t: 020-7090-7359	send email
LawWorks for Community Groups/Initial Electronic Advice	Ruth Thompson	t: 020-7090-7357	send email
Individual Casework	Tim Atwood	t: 020-7090-7355	send email
LawWorks Mediation	Lavinia Shaw Brown	t: 020-7090-7354	send email
LawWorks Mediation	Kristina Velcikova	t: 020-7090-7362	send email
LawWorks North	Janet Hart	t: 0161-275-0348	send email
LawWorks Students/Law Schools	Martin Curtis	t: 020-7090-7358	send email
LawWorks Training	Megan Pearson	t: 020-7090-7362	send email