Bar Pro Bono Unit
(January 2007)
This year marks the 10th Birthday of the Bar Pro Bono Unit. Russell Holland, Caseworker at the Unit, reports on its achievements and future plans.
Since its establishment in 1996 by Lord Goldsmith QC, the Bar Pro Bono Unit has matched volunteer barristers to assist with over 2,500 deserving cases. Advice and representation is provided by over 1,850 barristers (including over 240 QCs) who have volunteered to join the Bar Pro Bono Panel from all over England and Wales. Each has offered their services free of charge for at least 3 days each year. The Unit aims to provide a high quality service and seeks to ensure that a barrister undertaking a case pro bono will be of the same expertise and experience as if the case were privately funded.
"Panel members at all levels of seniority have been very generous with their time and hard work and deserve huge thanks for helping those who would otherwise be unable properly to access the legal system" explains the Unit's Chairman Robin Knowles CBE QC. "Pro bono work is not a substitute for publicly funded legal services; we only accept cases where public funding is not available and the applicant is unable to afford legal assistance. Experience has shown that frequently litigants in person find out about the Unit through Courts or Tribunals and we are particularly keen that all those who work in the justice system are aware of the service we provide."
Applications to the Unit must be made through an advice agency such as a Citizens Advice Bureau, Law Centre or Solicitor by completing an application form and providing copies of the relevant documents. In order to ensure that that the Unit can target its resources to where they are most needed, applications are not accepted from litigants in person directly. Each application is assessed by a member of an experienced panel of barristers to form a preliminary view on the legal merit of the case as well as ensure that assistance is needed by barrister. The reviewing stage is critical to the success of the Unit to help ensure that the limited resources of the charity can be directed towards those who need them most.
The factors that the Unit will take into account include the legal or other merit of the case, the financial circumstances of the applicant, how much time would be needed by a volunteer and (if a solicitor is not involved) whether Counsel can assist without a solicitor being involved. The Unit does have a licence which enables the client to instruct Counsel without a solicitor where a solicitor has not been found. Cases are accepted for assistance on a step by step basis, so normally a case would only be accepted for representation following a positive advice on the merits. Because of the time needed to review a case and find a volunteer barrister to assist, the Unit requires at least three weeks notice before any hearing date or deadline.
Once a case has been reviewed, the Unit's Casework team contact volunteer panel members to ask if they are available to provide assistance. Russell Holland describes some of the issues that arise which involve Tribunals. "It is important that we are very clear with clients about what the Unit can offer. Sometimes clients apply for assistance at a hearing but need to submit documents to the Tribunal before the hearing. The Unit itself as an organisation is not being instructed by the client and staff at the Unit cannot give legal advice to the client. Once the Unit has found a volunteer to assist, then (in cases where a solicitor has not been found) the client instructs Counsel directly. Sometimes the client will telephone the Unit to indicate that a Tribunal has asked if they are being represented. In the interim period between a case being reviewed but before a barrister has taken on a case we can only tell clients that the Unit is looking to assist but until we have a barrister available they must continue to act on their own. Naturally, we aim to place cases as soon as possible, but we are dependent on the availability of our volunteers and very occasionally, particularly when we are given short notice about an imminent deadline, we are unable to find a barrister to assist. Similarly, we sometimes receive calls from Tribunals asking about the progress of an application to the Unit. As confidentiality is absolutely essential to our work, while we wish to be as helpful as possible to the Tribunal, we cannot discuss any details (including whether or not an application has even been made) about an application without permission from the applicant."
As the Unit celebrates 10 years of pro bono work, Robin Knowles is optimistic about the future. "Ten years ago the Unit occupied a couple of rooms and had one part-time member of staff. Today it handles a busy workload from premises designed for it and with the expert help of a strong staff team. Ten years ago some hundreds of members of the Bar agreed to take cases from the Unit. Today it is becoming increasingly possible, with the willing help of clerks and practice managers, to ask any member of the Bar to assist. It is great to see how far pro bono work has come generally over those 10 years and I look forward to celebrating future achievements."