LATEST NEWS
National Pro Bono Week 2010
This year, National Pro Bono Week will start on November 8th and end with the LawWorks Student Conference to be held in Birmingham on Saturday November 13th.
2010 LawWorks Student Pro Bono Conference
The 2010 LawWorks Student Pro Bono Conference which will take place on Saturday, 13 November at The College of Law, Birmingham.
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Information for the Public
The difference between public funding and pro bono
Pro bono legal work is complementary to public funding, not a substitute - it can provide legal assistance to those who fall outside of public funding but who cannot afford to pay their legal costs. It comes from the Latin "pro bono publico" which means "for the public good" and is usually interpreted as "free legal assistance".Individuals may be able to obtain public funding to help with any legal costs. Whether you can or cannot depends on many things including your financial considerations (how much you earn, what savings you might have etc) and the type of legal help you are looking for.
The best first step is to visit an advice agency such as a CAB. To find the nearest CAB you can use go to the Citizen's Advice website. Alternatively you could visit a local solicitor who carries out publicly funded work. A list can be found here . There is also an information sheet on the Citizens Advice website.
Getting pro bono legal assistance: What to do if you need legal assistance,
cannot afford to pay for it and cannot obtain public funding.
Where to go first?
In most cases, the best first step is to visit a local advice agency such as a law centre, a Citizens Advice Bureau or another independent advice agency, or a local solicitor.
Initial Advice
Some agencies will have legal clinics, in which volunteer lawyers help provide advice. Some will have access to telephone support lines. Some will be able to obtain help with initial advice by email link to volunteer lawyers - an option which should increase with time. In many cases the advice that you receive will be all you need, but some cases need assistance that is more in-depth.
In Depth Assistance
The agency or solicitor may be able to give some or all of the in-depth assistance
required. However in some cases the agency or solicitor will not be in a position
to give the assistance needed. In these cases they will usually still be best
placed to help you apply for in-depth assistance from elsewhere.
Can you get public funding (legal aid)?
First you need to find out whether you might be entitled to publicly funded
assistance (what used to be called legal aid). There is an eligibility calculator
for public funding that the agency can use to assist them to answer this question
with you. Click here to access
the calculator. If you can obtain public funding then pro bono assistance
will not be available.
And what if you cannot get public funding (legal aid)?
The agency or solicitor may know if there is a local scheme for in-depth
pro bono assistance. Where there is no local scheme, other areas on this website
that are available to lawyers, law centres, advice agencies or CABx will enable
them to access
details of the national pro bono organisations - Law Works (formerly Solicitors
Pro Bono Group) and the Bar Pro Bono Unit.
To request in-depth assistance from one of these national pro bono organisations,
an application form must be completed and sent. This will need to be accompanied
by copies of the main documents and details of your income and assets, or
of financial
resources reasonably available to you.
What else can you do?
There are various other sources of information on this website which might
be of help. Legal fact sheets or links to other sites may give you the answer
you need. However, the law can be complicated and one small change in circumstances
might lead to a different result. Use the fact sheets to provide you with
information and make you better informed before you visit an advice agency.
The better the information you can give the agency the more likely they are
to be able to help you.
Various websites which may contain information
and guidance to help you further.