Funding shortage threatens Solicitors Pro Bono Group community project

LAWWORKS: matching scheme will grind to a halt without money to employ project managers

The future of LawWorks for Community Groups, the scheme set up by the Solicitors Pro Bono Group (SPBG), is in doubt owing to a severe funding shortage.

The scheme, which matches solicitors who want to work on a pro bono basis with suitable community projects, is struggling to find funds to employ the two project managers needed to run the operation.

The funding used to set up the scheme two years ago will end shortly, and the SPBG is applying to various charitable foundations for support.

SPBG chief executive Sue Bucknall said: 'We still have a considerable number of solicitors who want to give their time to the scheme, and we also have a huge number of projects needing their help - it is a case of finding the money to be able to match them up.'

More than 100 community groups were helped last year by the scheme, which provides free business law advice to not-for-profit agencies.

However, Ms Bucknall said she was 'relatively' positive about the long-term future for the scheme.

Aid came from the Law Society's Commerce and Industry (C&I) group this week, which announced that the scheme would be the main focus of its fundraising and pro bono work this year.

Denise Jagger, C&I's pro bono director and group counsel at Asda, said the scheme was a valuable opportunity for all involved: 'It's a win-win situation, as pro bono activity offers C&I members personal development opportunities such as the development of communication and customer care skills.'

Meanwhile, Law Society Council member Christopher Digby-Bell this week called for a 'coherent national strategy' for managing and encouraging pro bono work.

Mr Digby-Bell, who last month received the judges' award in the Gazette-sponsored Liberty/Justice human rights awards, proposed a ten-point plan for reforming and modernising pro bono.

Suggestions include creating a national register of pro bono practitioners and obtaining funding by, if necessary, imposing a levy on the legal profession.

A Law Society spokesman said that following the success of last June's national pro bono week, it has set up regional planning committees with the bar and Institute of Legal Executives to arrange events in June for lawyers interested in pro bono.

Victoria MacCallum