Rely on the most comprehensive, up-to-date legal content designed and curated by lawyers for lawyers
Work faster and smarter to improve your drafting productivity without increasing risk
Accelerate the creation and use of high quality and trusted legal documents and forms
Streamline how you manage your legal business with proven tools and processes
Manage risk and compliance in your organisation to reduce your risk profile
Stay up to date and informed with insights from our trusted experts, news and information sources
Access the best content in the industry, effortlessly — confident that your news is trustworthy and up to date.
Find up-to-date guidance on points of law and then easily pull up sources to support your advice with Lexis PSL
Check out our straightforward definitions of common legal terms.
Our trusted tax intelligence solutions, highly-regarded exam training and education materials help guide and tutor Tax professionals
Access our unrivalled global news content, business information and analytics solutions
Insurance, risk and compliance intelligence using big data, proprietary linking and advanced analytics.
A leading provider of software platforms for professional services firms
In-depth analysis, commentary and practical information to help you protect your business
LexisNexis Blogs shed light on topics affecting the legal profession and the issues you're facing
Legal professionals trust us to help navigate change. Find out how we help ensure they exceed expectations
Lex Chat is a LexisNexis current affairs podcast sharing insights on topics for the legal profession
Discuss the latest legal developments, ask questions, and share best practice with other LexisPSL subscribers
Cuts to the legal sector will oblige a more resourceful approach to how the potential of pro bono work can be best utilised in the future. As part of National Pro Bono Week 2016, Lesley Anderson QC, chair of the Chancery Bar Association’s pro bono subcommittee, looks at civil society endeavours and the role lawyers can play in public education on law and politics, as key and optimistic starting points.
This can be done in two main ways. First, projects like Street Law are concerned with classroom and community based programmes which educate young people about law, government and constitutional issues. While the degree of active political engagement is still low among that age group, lawyers have an important educational role to play in the national post-Brexit and Scottish referendum debates (the latter saw 16 and 17 year olds enfranchised for the first time and a significantly higher level of active participation). These events reinforce the crucial part lawyers play in the national, constitutional debate. Second, lawyers have significant transferable skill sets which go beyond their technical legal knowledge and legal literacy and are well placed to participate in schemes which promote general literacy, mediation, advocacy and negotiation skills.
Civil engagement by lawyers is still likely to focus on three main areas—representation (eg the flagship Chancery Bar Association’s (ChBA) Litigants in Person Scheme (CLIPS)) advice (Law Works and the Bar Pro Bono and Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau schemes) and lobbying/civil engagement of the type already identified. The need will increase and I think we will see even greater numbers of lawyers becoming involved (even those for whom the voluntary sector is somewhat unfamiliar territory). The ChBA experience suggests that there is now much better liaison between volunteer providers so that someone who needs representation beyond the ‘on the day’ service CLIPS provides can be seamlessly referred on. It is also inevitable that the scope of work will extend to other courts (such as the recent scheme in the Court of Appeal for permission applications) and tribunals.
While we should never give up the argument that properly funded public funding is essential for access to justice, the private sector is already filling much of the territory left by the withdrawal of legal aid funding for almost all civil disputes. I would, however, challenge the premise that these are properly described as ‘gaps’.
There is always something to learn from other jurisdictions. In the US the acclaimed ‘Innocence Project’ was set up as long ago as 1992 and has been helping to exonerate wrongly-convicted persons ever since.
I think the ones I identified already—increasing need across a whole range of courts and tribunals will be met, I think, by active engagement by increasing number of lawyers at all levels—students, academics and practitioners. I think that there is a significant untapped resource in retired practitioners (including judges) especially given the relatively young age at which many partners retire from UK law firms. While, traditionally, this is a sector to which the pro bono sector has looked for tangible financial support and funding, I think we can expect much more active volunteering from them.
Interviewed by Julian Sayarer. The views expressed by our Legal Analysis interviewees are not necessarily those of the proprietor.
Free trials are only available to individuals based in the UK
* denotes a required field
0330 161 1234