I was delighted to see the amount of pro bono work now being done. Congratulations you guys.


At the risk of striking a sour note, the view from legal aid practitioners is that the vast majority of free work is actually done by us. Maybe up to 5-10% of our time is unpaid, but we just do not have time to count the hours. The reason? First, the system is incredibly bureaucratic in terms of the requirements of the Legal Services Commission. Second, the legal aid system has such glaring holes in it that we can only make it function by doing free work.



Here is a typical example. Under the new rules, we take on a care case (decisions about whether a child should be taken permanently out of his/her birth family), and we receive a fixed fee of around £4,000 for all office work required. If you work for more than those hours, then it is compulsory pro bono up to around £8,000, when the government will actually pay you a proper hourly rate. So we make up to a £4,000 loss.



And the proper hourly rate? This ranges from £33 travel to the dizzy heights of about £80-£100 for High Court advocacy. So when we see valuations of pro bono at £338 million, we wonder what rates were used to calculate that. And then (we) think how lovely it would be to have those rates.



On a more positive note, I suggest that official pro bono people could consider if the skills of private firms might also be used to create greater real 'added value' for 'poor and disadvantaged clients'. This could be achieved by supporting local legal aid firms - by giving them free legal support in commercial conveyancing, employment advice, IT advice and support, or possibly subsidised office equipment and supplies. Why not create a scheme - Adopt a legal aid firm?



David Jockelson, Miles & Partners, London