ILEX president calls for unified pro bono group

COLLABORATION: mixed views on feasibility of joining forces

The Solicitors Pro Bono Group (SPBG) should join forces with its bar and newly launched legal executive equivalents to form one united pro bono organisation for lawyers, according to the president of the Institute for Legal Executives (ILEX).

Speaking at last week's launch of the ILEX pro bono group, president Andrew Weaver said: 'There is already a number of groups providing pro bono advice to the public, so why not have one united lawyers' group which will help co-ordinate and promote free legal advice to those who need it most?'

The proposal was welcomed by Sue Bucknall, director of the SPBG, who said: 'Pro bono work is meant to help the public at ground level, and if these groups can work together, contributing different aspects, then the public can only benefit.'

A spokeswoman for the Bar Council was less optimistic: 'The SPBG and the bar pro bono unit do very different types of work,' she said.

'The bar acts as a referral service whereas the SPBG encourages the development of a grass-roots pro bono culture within law firms, and it's not realistic to imagine one unified organisation being able to accommodate both.'

Last month, the Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith QC, launched a national co-ordinating pro bono committee, featuring representatives from both groups, to encourage and co-ordinate national pro bono work (see [2002] Gazette, 25 April, 4).

Meanwhile, preparations for national pro bono week, from 10-14 June, continue.

The week, organised by the SPBG, the bar pro bono unit, the Law Society and Bar Council, will be launched by Lord Goldsmith at a Law Society reception in the morning of 10 June.

Receptions and events will continue throughout the country, and will end with an SPBG fundraising ball on 13 June at the Law Society.

See Editorial

Victoria MacCallum

LINKS: www.probonogroup.org