Target concern

I have been reading articles in the Gazette and elsewhere concerning the topic of pro bono work for some years now.

The thrust behind these articles is an arrogance which is almost breathtaking.

It is clearly not a professional responsibility to do pro bono work.

It could never be so unless and until - perish the day - there were legislative compulsion to provide it.

The most that could ever be said about pro bono work is that individuals and groups of individuals may choose to provide such a service to clients or to the wider public where they believe that there is a need, and where they desire to meet it.

It is perfectly correct for the Law Society to draw the attention of solicitors to the possibility and even the desirability of assisting a client or some disadvantaged group with unpaid advice.

However, to put forward the concept of an 'aspirational voluntary target' of a particular number of hours can lead only and inevitably to legislative compulsion.

Why else would pro bono work be referred to as 'a political football?' Why else would it be necessary for the Law Society President to express the hope that pro bono work should remain a personal commitment?

The hope remains that the Law Society will continue to reject a target for pro bono work, or even pressure to engage in it.

Year by year the pressure from to engage in it.

Year by year the pressure from organisations and focus groups such as the Solicitors Pro Bono Group have grown.

By all means let those who wish to do pro bono work do it.

Let them offer prizes for it, and even bursaries to go and study it elsewhere, but let the hand that urges it be the gentle hand of quiet persuasion, not the threatening hand that seems to be raised to strike at the liberty of the individual solicitor to engage in it or refrain from doing so.

RG Le Pla, Simpson Duxbury, Bradford, West Yorkshire.