Advocate is a charity that finds free legal assistance from volunteer barristers

Advocate was founded on a simple but powerful principle: a lack of means should never be a barrier to accessing justice. Since 1996, we have matched people who cannot afford legal assistance with specialist volunteer barristers who offer their help pro bono. Thirty years on, that principle has not changed, but our scale has.

Over the past few years, we have grown our reach and impact to a national scale, expanding our team to have a caseworker based in every circuit across England and Wales. We are proud to currently have 5,000 barristers signed up as part of our volunteer panel, allowing us to place more cases than ever each year.

To every barrister, clerk, colleague and friend who has given their time, expertise or financial support over the past thirty years, we are profoundly grateful. To every one of our applicants who comes to us in need, we are deeply committed to improving our services to become the best version of the Bar’s pro bono charity.

For thirty years, we have been a leading figure in pro bono services, and we look forward to a future of continuing our work in advancing access to justice and upholding the rule of law.

“As Advocate celebrates 30 years of service, the judiciary recognises the vital contribution that the Bar has made to access to justice through its pro bono work. It is a huge credit to practitioners that, over three decades, they have given up their time freely to support the most vulnerable members of society in need of Advocate’s services.”

– The Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, The Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill