My Pro Bono Story

About 10 years ago, I was asked by the then-pro bono coordinator to cover for her while she was on parental leave. I decided to give it a go, as I thought it would provide a new challenge and the opportunity to get to know more about pro bono. While initially only set to cover for six months, I ended up staying in the role. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to support and help grow the pro bono practice in the London office. Pro bono work gives me the opportunity to do my part, however small, to address some of the pressing issues of our time — whether on a local, global, individual or organizational level — and to bring these opportunities to a wider pool of lawyers.

Historically, the UK did not have the same tradition of pro bono as the U.S., mainly due to the wide availability of legal aid. In recent times, legal aid funding has been significantly cut in the UK, meaning that many matters including welfare benefits, private family law and employment law were removed from the scope of legal aid. Since 2013, the London office has worked collaboratively with pro bono organizations and other peer firms to launch initiatives aimed at plugging the gap that has been left by these cuts. For example, lawyers across the London office have been building secondary skills in both welfare benefits and unpaid wages matters. It’s inspiring to see so many Kirkland lawyers committed to helping individuals in our local community at what is often a very destabilizing period in our clients’ lives.

Working on pro bono projects from a professional growth perspective has meant that I have been able to expand my practice outside of the areas that I have worked in for almost two decades. Working with peer firms, I have found that collaborating on pro bono — whether that be specific projects or targeting current issues — creates successful outcomes for our pro bono partners and therefore the community that these organizations serve.

On a personal level, working on pro bono matters and working with our pro bono partners to further their work is immensely rewarding. I feel very privileged to have the ability to do that as part of my day-to-day.

We have a couple of long-term projects that work very well in the London office, thanks to the Firm’s plentiful resources and deep talent: the weekly housing clinic in London’s East End, which provides much-needed housing legal advice to local residents; and representing clients in welfare benefits appeals, which most clients find to be a very stressful process. Both projects were set up in response to the significant cuts in legal aid that were made in the UK in 2013, which meant that there was, almost overnight, a huge increase in the number of people seeking pro bono advice. We have numerous lawyers across the London office trained to take on these matters. Through these projects, I see first-hand and on an individual level the difference that pro bono representation can make in people’s lives.