Lawyers at Sutton Council are to become the first local authority legal team to volunteer their services to the LawWorks pro bono project.

The 14 solicitors and three barristers in Sutton’s legal team are signing up to the charity, which provides free legal help to individuals and community groups who cannot afford representation.

LawWorks currently works with around 100 member law firms and teams of in-house counsel, as well as mediators and law students.

Sanjay Prashar, Sutton Council’s executive head of legal and democratic services, said: ‘Joining LawWorks is part of our corporate social responsibility agenda, and is also an opportunity to develop our junior staff by exposing them to different areas of work.’

Brighton & Hove City Council has also begun talks to take part in LawWorks. Acting head of legal and democratic services Elizabeth Culbert, who leads a team of 38 solicitors, said: ‘We have not collaborated with LawWorks before because we were nervous about conflicts of interest – many of the queries at advice surgeries are likely to involve council services, such as housing or child care. LawWorks has shown us how to get around this and we now need to agree a way forward.’