real cost of Pro Bono

I am from one of the smaller firms that Christopher Digby-Bell says ought to be more caring and do pro bono work (see [2001] Gazette, 31 August, 8).I am (financially at least) rather more on the lean side of the cat world - I aspire to be a fat cat but I probably spend too much time doing pro bono work for my clients.Such business flagrancy with billable hours as against time actually billed would probably cause Mr Digby-Bell to call me before him to justify my existence if I worked in a caring City firm.The fact is that all solicitors do care about their clients - especially in smaller firms because we are totally dependent on them.

Smaller firms do not, on the whole, have the luxury of corporate clients with deeper than average pockets to fall back on, so we regularly make concessions on fees.

A recent five-day High Court trial done pro bono by me is an example.

Concessions are a regular feature of a smaller firm's business life.

While that may not sit within Mr Digby-Bell's definition of pro bono work, it means we do not get paid for work we have done.I often hear of pro bono work being done by the large firms and I often wonder at the correlation between that work and publicity it generates for the firm.Karen South, South & C0, London