Attorney General's Pro Bono Committee

On Wednesday 22 March, our Chair, Sharif Shivji KC, gave a presentation to the Solicitor General, the former Attorney General and members of the Attorney General’s pro bono committee about our work and the challenges on access to justice. 

The Attorney General’s committee is drawn from numerous organisations involved in pro bono and access to justice across the Solicitor’s profession and the Bar. It provides an opportunity to highlight the issues of the day, to share ideas and solutions and for greater cross-sector collaboration.

In attendance were the Chair of the Bar, Nick Vineall KC, the Vice President of the Law Society, the President of CILEX and many other representatives from organisations who provide or support pro bono help. The discussion covered a range of areas which are of particular interest to us including the use of technology in order to speed up pro bono assistance, establishing emergency schemes for legal assistance in times of national and international crisis, dealing with vulnerable litigants and those with complex needs and examining listing arrangements to consider what can be done to assist litigants in persons and whether the availability of pro bono counsel could be taken into account.

The Attorney General has also established a new steering committee which will be able to dive deeper into some of the issues arising. We are pleased to see that Toby Brown of South Square, who is also one of our panel members and Chair of Pro Bono Week, has been appointed Chair of that committee. We wish him every success in that role.