Pro Bono
Pro bono work is unpaid professional work for a public service; examples are charities, the Citizens Advice Bureau and Street Law.
Why Bother?
By getting involved you’re not only making yourself feel good by helping people but you will also gain valuable work experience in giving legal advice and information whilst being supervised by a lawyer. Just think about the impact you could have on the lives of people in your local community.
Not only that, future employers will be impressed you have taken the initiative to become involved in such schemes and will show your commitment to a career in a law and that you have already began to develop the non-academic skills needed for any role at a law firm.
Our Advice
Get involved! Your law school and university should be able to help you and offer you projects to participate in. Many pro bono services are run by Large City Law Firms as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility strategy so it is a good opportunity to impress members of the profession who may be able to assist with Training Contract Applications. It is not unheard of for people to be offered jobs or further work experience after being impressed during pro bono activities. Whether it’s helping with the witness service, legal advice centre or fund raising it all gives you a selling point to potential employers.
Chelsea Twyford, one of our legal assistants, did an 8-week family law project at university. It involved gathering information and putting together a bundle about local charities who helped victims and witnesses following a family law issue. She said: ‘it was beneficial to see how many charities and organisations are available and for which specific issues. It also really helped me gain legal experience which looked great on my CV’
What are we doing?
We will be tweeting any pro bono opportunities that we see on our Twitter and Facebook page so make sure you keep a close eye on our tweets and posts.
Feel free to email us any questions at academy@duncangibbins.com
