YOUNG SOLICITORS PRO BONO AWARDS 1999The Young Solicitors Pro Bono Awards are inaugurated this week by the Young Solicitors Group in association with the Law Society GazetteThe awards will be made to individual solicitors who, at the closing date of 23 April have qualified for five years or less and who work in the following categories of employment:-- in-house/public service/central and local government/Crown Prosecution Service-- firms with more than 200 fee earners-- firms with 20 to 200 fee earners-- firms with up to 20 fee earners and sole practitionersThe candidates' work will be judged according to the following criteria:-- length of time involved in giving free legal advice or representation to people who would otherwise fail to obtain access to justice-- involvement in setting up new or innovative projects providing free legal services to people who would otherwise fail to obtain access to justice-- the significance of the individual's service to their clients and their community-- The judges will take into account only pro bono work carried out during the last 12 monthsA nomination submission must include the following:-- a nomination form which must be returned as the cover sheet for the nomination submission;-- a nominee's summary giving the candidate's principal areas of practice, number of years of qualification and practice together with a description of the pro bono activities undertaken by the nominee;-- supporting materials which may include any information that describes the nominee's activities, for example, annual reports, photographs and newspaper articles;-- letters of support from other individuals, supervising solicitors, clients or project managers who have knowledge of the candidate's pro bono work.Examples of work undertaken by candidates could be as an honorary legal adviser in a Citizen's Advice Bureau, free representation in court, at tribunals and other venues, legal advice in law centres or advice centres, participation in free advice or representation in law shops.-- Nomination packs are available from Judith McDermott; tel: 0171 320 5793 or Sara Chandler; tel: 0181 317 1619.An annual awards opens the way to recognise the unsung pro bono work done by young solicitors, Stephen Ward reports Thousands of solicitors work on a pro bono basis.

Many are young, and much of their work goes unrecognised by everybody except the people they are helping directly.

In order to make sure more of this excellent work gets the recognition it deserves individually and collectively, the Young Solicitors Group (YSG), in association with the Law Society's Gazette is inaugurating annual awards this year for young solicitors who have made a significant contribution to improving access to justice through their pro bono work.

The awards, which are open to solicitors who are in the first five years post qualification and are under 36 years old, will be launched this week on 10 March.

Nominations will close on 23 April, and four awards will be presented at a ceremony on 2 July YSG vice chairwoman Sara Chandler is in charge of the new awards.

She says one of the aims is to find out for the first time exactly what pro bono work is being done by members of the group.

'Members can self-nominate, or they can be nominated by colleagues or clients,' she says.Ms Chandler says for solicitors in the early stages of their careers, pro bono work offers a chance to gain more responsibility, to develop specialist knowledge, and in some cases to obtain direct contact with clients which may be lacking or limited in a young solicitor's day-to-day job.David Lock, a barrister, Labour MP for Wyre Forest, and now parliamentary private secretary to the Lord Chancellor, has been an outspoken advocate of pro bono work - notably at last year's Solicitors Annual Conference.

He stresses not only the good it achieves, but that it is a way for young solicitors to making their names in a community.The judges of the awards will bring different experiences to the task of choosing four winners.

One, the Solicitors Pro Bono Group director Peta Sweet, who has helped set up the award scheme, says: 'I will be looking for individuals with a clear and proven commitment to helping those who would otherwise be unable to afford legal fees.

I will also be looking for individuals who demonstrate an understanding of the important ethical obligations on them as a solicitor.

This is about outstanding individual and personal commitment as well as leadership on this important issue'.Ms Sweet adds: 'Essentially, it is also about individuals willing to use the benefit they have of skills, education and training to improve the lives of those who would otherwise be disadvantaged'.Within private practice, particularly outside the big firms in the City of London, the career structure makes it difficult for solicitors to fit in pro bono work in the years immediately after qualification.

Lawrence Holden, a partner in Brabner Holden Banks Wilson in Liverpool, says solicitors on Merseyside are doing a lot of pro bono work, but that it is mostly done by 40-somethings rather than the newly-qualified.

He said firms in the City of London had big enough departments to be able to spare young solicitors to undertake pro bono projects and cases, but in provincial firms the loss of the fee earners would leave a large gap.

Another partner at a medium-sized commercial firm in East Anglia, which encourages pro bono work, paints a similar picture in his region.

'We, the partners, are making the young solicitors work too hard to leave any time spare,' he says.At the same time pro bono work is slowly growing in new sectors.

The Solicitor-General has just agreed to encourage government lawyers to do pro bono, and in November, British Aerospace became the first in-house team to gain Law Society approval to do pro bono work.

The Law Society's professional conduct rules state that in-house lawyers can only advise their employers, but the Society has said it will consider any application to waive the rules where the work is to be done pro bono.

Other judges for the awards are Jay Sharma, director of the Law Centres Federation, the voice for the 52 Law Centres in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for more than 20 years, and Evlynne Gilvarry, editor of the Gazette, which is sponsoring the awards.

The fourth of the judges, YSG chairman Richard Moorhead, explains: 'One of the reasons we are making four awards for solicitors working in different sizes of firm, and to in-house solicitors, see above for award categories is because we were reasonably confident that different firms can take different approaches'.

The YSG wanted to be able to reward the different types of time and commitment solicitors at different sizes of firms could make.

Mr Moorhead says: 'In my mind the acid test is what makes the biggest impact on the community.

That's often what pro bono is about'.He concedes that other judges may have different views, placing greater weight on the degree of personal sacrifice of time or earnings.

Nominees will be asked to send details of the work with supporting materials such as photographs or annual reports of projects, and letters of support from people who have worked alongside the young solicitor, or who have been a client.

Judges are aware that in any competition, the submissions do not always do justice to the quality of the candidate.

'We will be looking beyond the glossy brochures,' Mr Moorhead promises.According to the chairman of the panel of judges and senior partner at City firm Bates Wells Braithwaite, Lord Phillips of Sudbury, the awards are important not only to recognise the individual winners, but for their symbolic importance to a beleaguered profession.

He says: 'In an age where public esteem for lawyers, and I suspect their own self-esteem, stands at a perilously low point, this initiative could hardly be more important'.SOLICITORS INTERESTED IN PRO BONO WORK, SHOULD PICK UP A RECENTLY PUBLISHED GUIDE, DEBORAH ROTHFIELD REPORTSIn Australia and the US there have always been national bodies that actively support and encourage pro bono work in the legal profession.

However in the UK, while solicitors in private practise spend an average of 37 hours each year giving free legal advice worth an estimated £124 million, until the formation of the Solicitors Pro Bono Group (SPBG) in September 1997, there was no official support for giving legal advice on a voluntary basis.

Pro bono work in the UK has been done on a piecemeal and ad hoc basis, dependent on the charitable instincts of a particular individual or firm.

While 11 City and national firms (Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Clyde & Co, Dibb Lupton Alsop, Freshfields, Hammond Suddards, Herbert Smith, Linklaters & Paines, Lovell White Durrant, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May) gave £100,000 to the SPBG over two years at its inception -- and more are committed to organised pro bono work -- a lot has to be done to raise lawyers' awareness in order to meet the real needs of those who cannot afford legal advice.The SPBG has published a guide intended to act as a know-how resource for solicitors, trainees and law students interested in pro bono work.

It directs them towards target organisations that need free legal advice and lists organisations -- for example, Blackliners, a voluntary charity run by people of Afro, Asian or Caribbean descent.While solicitors usually give specialist legal advice according to their practice area, many organisations require volunteers who do not have specific professional expertise, and there is a section in the guide that highlights this need.

Lawyers might, for example, want to act as trustees of voluntary organisations.

The guide also lists opportunities for law students and non-qualified lawyers to help their community and at the same time gain valuable experience.

There is also a form which can be completed by groups that have been omitted but would like to be in the next edition.Peta Sweet, director of the SPBG, says the guide is a working document formed out of meetings with agencies such s Justice, Liberty, the Legal Action Group, the Bar Pro Bono Unit, the Environmental Law Foundation, national voluntary groupings and law firms all around the UK.

It is based on similar documents that have been produced for lawyers in other jurisdictions, such as the New York Bar Association in the US and the Law Foundation of New South Wales in Australia.'The idea is that it will be used by law firms or lawyers in the UK, whether qualified, in-house, or trainees, who are interested in doing pro bono work, to find out more about where the work is needed,' she says.

'The way forward is to create better partnerships between the non-profit sector and private practice.'The guide gives precedents of struc tures through which pro bono work can be organised at law firms, but even firms that volunteer to be trustees of the SPBG, without actually doing much pro bono work, help a great deal.Alison Burns of the Mary Ward Legal Centre in London -- which tackles poverty and homelessness -- says more volunteers from the private sector means a wider range of expertise.

While lawyers with a commercial background do not always have transferable skills, employment lawyers from commercial firms do, she adds.Mark Dillon, an assistant solicitor at Eversheds's Leeds office, a Young Solicitors Group (YSG) executive committee member and member of the Pro Bono Working Group of Leeds Law Society, says that the pro bono guide will be invaluable in alerting lawyers both to the wide and varied range of pro bono activities that is already carried out within the profession, and the scope that still exits for innovative ideas to satisfy previously unmet legal needs.

Since the creation of the SPBG, Mr Dillon maintains that rapid progress has been made in raising the profile of pro bono as an issue within the profession.

The guide can be seen a step in consolidating the message that pro bono work should not just be seen as an optional extra, but as an essential component of practice for all lawyers, whether in large commercial firms, small high street practices, commerce and industry or government.Tim Andrews, of Dibb Lupton Alsop in Manchester, points out that one of the big problems in increasing the amount of pro bono work undertaken is finding the right match between the firm and the organisation or project.

He espouses the idea that for the pro bono culture to become accepted more readily with most larger commercial firms, there needs to be a 'fit' between the firm and the people they help.

'There is an obvious geographic, economic and skills element to any equation,' he says.

'In the case of Dibb Lupton Alsop, we have a national commercial firm assisting a national organisation whose goal is the creation of commercial enterprises.

The Price's Youth Business Trust is structured regionally and although Dibb Lupton Alsop is not regionally organised, our regional and city presence enable us to offer support across a broad spectrum of the country covered by the trust's activities.

This is not to say that culturally only the acceptable face of charity will find help.

Nor is it to suggest that practically the only logical fit for a commercial firm is a business-orientated scheme.

Mr Andrews asserts that 'global' firm schemes are not the only options.

Individuals can and do perform excellent pro bono work and this should be encouraged and nurtured in large firms as well as smaller firms which he says often do more than their larger counterparts, he says.

However, he maintains that the sheer size of the resources available across the country today -- particularly in the commercial sector -- makes the harnessing of this potential for pro bono work through such global firm schemes the most exciting prospect for the millennium.

The guide facilitates this aspect and is the logical starting point to the formulation of a nationally-co-ordinated strategic approach to pro bono activity.Lawrence Holden, of Liverpool firm Brabner Holden Banks Wilson, points out that the guide should not be regarded as the only or even a prime means of promoting pro bono work.

'In reality, it is quite remarkable how much work of this kind goes on given the pressures in the profession on firms of all types,' he says.

'This activity is dependent on personal enthusiasm and c ommitment.' At Brabner Holden Banks Wilson, solicitors have concentrated on working through the Business in the Community Professional Firms Group.

Although the Liverpool group is not mentioned in the guide, it has been remarkably successful during the last 15 months.

Mr Holden concludes: 'In this firm, we have had a traditional commitment to working with communities for many years and this has definitely been of benefit to the firm as well as communities".CASE STUDIESCase study one:TOMASIN JAMESTomasin James, 28, an employment lawyer, works for Simmons & Simmons all week, but on Thursday evenings she gives her time to a different set of challenges in a deprived area.

She recognises that in what she does now she is just one of many young solicitors doing similar work.She works one evening a week at the North Islington Law Centre in Hornsey, north London, only five miles away from her City office, but a world away in the problems which come through the door.'They've got a lot of work there,' she says.

'They have a Thursday evening session which is manned by volunteers, and I do that when I can.

They have about seven or eight other volunteers as well.'She works from 7pm to 9.30pm or 10pm.

'I usually have two appointments per session,' she explains.

Each one is between an hour and an hour and a half.

'Usually I'll be able to see the documents before I see the clients,' she says.The amount she can do in that time is limited, but she can usually make sure the clients are not left without additional assistance when they need it.

She is not able to fit in pro bono cases in her firm's time, so if litigation is involved, she will pass clients to a solicitor who will be able to take the case pro bono, often at another City firm.

She says: 'If it is a case for an employment tribunal, you might try to refer it on to someone who can represent them there.

But in an hour or an hour and a half you can at least draft the case.' She advises only on employment law.

Other solicitors at the centre advise on their own specialisms.Since her career began, she has always incorporated a pro bono element into her time.

While she was a trainee, and after qualification in September 1997, she co-ordinated a pro bono team at the Battersea Legal Advice Centre, comprising solicitors and trainees from three City firms, her own, Eversheds and Allen & Overy.

All have their employers' blessing, but work in their own time.

'I started there when I joined Simmons & Simmons in September 1995, and I headed it from October 1996 until March 1998,' she says.The scheme, which continues, involves a roster of trainees and qualified young solicitors to staff a free drop-in advice centre on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights.Case study two: JONATHAN TURLEYJonathan Turley, 30, won two important industrial tribunal cases for disabled clients last year.

For each, he was retained pro bono by the Disability Law Service -- a charity which helps clients to be represented in various areas of law including housing, employment and benefits.Mr Turley is three-years qualified in the litigation department of City firm Linklaters and Paines, which authorises his contribution to the charity.According to Jocelyn Murphy -- the employed solicitor at the charity which retained him -- pro bono work by outside lawyers makes it possible for far more clients to be represented, and gives access to a wider range of expertise.She says: 'The first case [Jonathan] did for us was against a large construction company which was trying to vary the terms of contrac t of an asthmatic.

It came to four hours in total with the client, a case conference, then one and a half hours of advocacy at a pre-trial hearing review.

He found himself arguing about the definition of disabled under the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act'.Mr Turley says: 'It is a rewarding thing to do.

And there is no question of pro bono clients being second best.

I treat them just as I would any other case'.

He says that he gains a breadth of experience from the pro bono work, particularly in advocacy.In the second case, he won £13,000 in compensation for a client with multiple sclerosis who had been made redundant a week after his diagnosis.

The case involved a two-day hearing with cross examination.According to Ms Murphy, the charity is given exactly the same priority as any other client.

'Once I have a hearing date, I book [Jonathan] and he has to organise his paid for hearings around that,' she says.Joanna Cave, director of the charity says: 'He does things extremely thoroughly, he takes work home, he's contactable over the weekend.

He's committed and will be doing future work for us'.She says the charity has to turn away many offers of pro bono help.

'There are critical factors in whether we entrust a case to an outside party,' she says.

'For example, they need a knowledge of disability legislation, or a willingness to acquire it.

It really does have to be someone committed to the client group and that sort of work.'Case study three:BETHAN LLOYDCompany law is not an obvious area associated with pro bono work, but for the last nine months, Bethan Lloyd has been working to set up an association which will eventually become a charity.

She works in the corporate department of Edwards Geldard, in Cardiff, which advises the Professional Firms Group of Business in the Community -- an organisation which arranges legal and other expertise without charge.Ms Lloyd, 25, who qualified last year, took over from a colleague who had begun the complex and time-consuming process of incorporating the new organisation.

She is prohibited from naming it because of client confidentiality.'I've been getting the company up and running,' she says.

'We have drawn up the articles of this company, and given advice on drafting and accounting.' Her work for the company -- which is a confederation of organisations throughout Wales -- has been far from straight-forward.

'At the moment, they are asking for advice on making changes to articles of association.

This requires the directors to delegate responsibilities to alternative directors.

That's fine for a normal company, but not when it is considering applying for charitable status, because trustees of a charity are not allowed to delegate their duties.'She is currently in correspondence with the Charities Commission.

It is here that the resources of an experienced commercial law firm are invaluable.

'We do have people here who specialise in charity law and are aware that the sort of amendments our clients want have been accepted in the past by the charity commissioners,' she says.An additional complication was that many of the constituent organisations in the confederation did not know whether their own constitutions allowed them to subscribe to shares in another company.

She insists her pro bono client receives as good a service as her other clients.

'You do it when you're not busy and you have a slot,' she explains.

'It doesn't have priority, but then it is non-urgent.

But if if did become urgent -- if there was a deadline to file accounts or something - - I'm sure I'd get it done and if I couldn't because of other commitments, I'd get someone else to do it.

'For me it's just another file.

Like anybody else I have my chargeable hours target and it doesn't count towards that but it honestly doesn't influence me when I'm working on the file.' She adds: 'Charities probably need [free advice] more than anyone because they have trustees worrying about complying with the charity laws.'Case study four:CHRIS CALLENDERCHRIS Callender, 31, is a solicitor and having been a long-time resident of the Hyde Park inner city area of Leeds, he is aware that there is a crying need for legal services there.He lived in the area as a student, and while training, organised festivals and community organisations.

When he qualified 18 months ago, he wanted to use his professional expertise to help the area.

Last summer, he was instrumental in setting up a drop-in legal advice centre in a rented church hall.

It was staffed every Wednesday lunchtime by himself and a handful of colleagues from the five-partner Leeds firm of Harrison Bundy.

At the end of last month, the surgeries were suspended until more money has been raised, but they hope the hiatus will be short.Although the solicitors were working for nothing, the project no longer had the £40 a week it needed for the rent, or any budget to let people know it was there.

Nick Beal, and associate at another Leeds firm, Addleshaw Booth, one of the young solicitors in the city who has supported the project, says: 'Hyde Park is an area of the city with a lot of unmet legal need.

I don't think there are any solicitors.

There are particular needs for things such as housing and family law, and where some good can be done fairly simply'.

Chris Callender is a criminal law solicitor, and actually lives in Hyde Park, so he has a particular affinity with the area, and knows more about it than some of us who live elsewhere.Mr Beal adds: 'You can see quite a number of people in an hour, one at a time.

The idea eventually is to build on this project so there is a day for housing law, an immigration day and days for other things.

Part of what we are doing is starting small, and looking to get some sort of model which can be uprooted and planted down in any other area in Leeds and across the country.

The next step is to do more fundraising, then get more fee earners involved.

Fundraising pays for administration and promotion of the centre to make the fullest use of the solicitors' time.'Mr Callender is optimistic that there is scope for a wide range of firms to become involved.

He says: 'For example, a big firm often deals with local authorities, which process applications for grants under budgets for urban regeneration, which is a big thing in ghetto areas.

If a small community group was trying to set up and was looking for assistance, then a 'big man solicitor' from a corporate firm could come down to the meeting and give some really top advice on how to obtain money from projects.' He says that almost never happens, at present but not because the firms are unwilling, but because the links need to be made.