The Pro Bono Community training course is a standardised programme providing training, assessment and placement of law students, trainees and junior lawyers seeking to volunteer in Law Centres and other advice agencies.
Pro Bono Community training benefits four constituencies with an interest in pro bono work:
- Law firms and barristers’ chambers and associations benefit from employees who have received a structured volunteering experience and training in a range of skills necessary for practice.
- Law schools are able to offer their students an alternative perspective on practice as well as an opportunity to develop and contextualise their legal and procedural knowledge.
- Law firms, barristers’ chambers and associations and law schools derive a reputational benefit from their involvement in pro bono work, enriching the offering they can make to current and future students, trainees and junior lawyers.
- Law students, trainees and junior lawyers benefit from structured training that will equip them to work as volunteers, provide them with the skills for practice and develop their practical knowledge of legal processes
- Law Centres and other advice agencies are able to reduce the resources they must allocate to volunteer training and recruitment whilst receiving access to a source of well-trained and committed volunteers.
- A constant supply of quality volunteers allows Law Centres and advice agencies to increase the number of clients they are able to help.
- The sector as a whole benefits from a standardisation of the training that volunteers receive, allowing for greater rationalisation and cooperation between agencies.
- The end result and the ultimate goal of Pro Bono Community is that clients of Law Centres and advice agencies benefit from increased access to pro bono work, receiving high-quality advice from well-trained volunteers.
- In addition to the provision of advice, volunteers will be able to act as a gateway for clients, triaging their issues and directing them to other appropriate organisations.