Expertise: leading solicitors targeted for international projects

Three top City solicitors are among the pioneers of an international pro bono initiative aimed at tapping into the experience of senior lawyers.


Nigel Boardman, a corporate partner at Slaughter and May, former Law Society President and Clifford Chance partner Michael Mathews, and Isla Smith, an ex-Norton Rose partner, have become volunteer mentors in the LawWorks Senior Project, run by the Solicitors Pro Bono Group (SPBG). Peter Scragg, now a consultant at Burton-on-Trent firm Goodger Auden, has also signed up.


Backed by funding from the Law Society Charity, the project is targeted at senior lawyers who are either retired, nearing retirement, or on a career break. It gives them the chance to use their skills to help lawyers worldwide by matching their talents with international projects.


It has already linked the four lawyers as mentors for the chief executives of the Law Associations of Zambia, Botswana and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Bar Association, and the Law Society of Trinidad and Tobago, while they were on a two-month fellowship to the UK, hosted by the Law Society's international department.


SPBG chief executive Sue Bucknell said: 'There was a whole area of expertise that up to now hadn't been utilised. Other LawWorks projects tended to be aimed at students and junior practitioners.'


She continued: 'We wanted to do something that would appeal to more senior lawyers, as well as give them the opportunity to put something back. They have a huge skill set and we were looking at how they can use these skills after retirement.'


Mr Mathews said: 'I was no longer working full-time and wondered what I could do that was useful, but the last thing I wanted was another full-time job. The short time period of this project was perfect.'


LawWorks Senior Project is looking for corporate and commercial solicitors to participate in a scheme to train and mentor black lawyers in South Africa at the end of September.


The project also seeks to help domestic organisations, for example, by linking charities up with lawyers who can act as trustees.