How to become a volunteer barrister 

Advocate works with volunteer barristers who offer their time, skills and expertise to provide pro bono legal advice, drafting, mediation assistance and representation to those who need it most.

Barristers from their second six all the way to KC can sign up to volunteer. Click here to sign up.

To read about some of the barristers who already volunteer and why, click here

This is what you need to know:

  • All of our cases have had their merit and need approved by our volunteer reviewing barristers.
  • There is no obligation to commit to cases once you have expressed interest. After we send you the case papers, you have 48 hours to decide whether you would like to take it on.
  • Panel members only take on the piece of work authorised, there is no obligation to continue with the whole case should you not wish to.
  • By becoming a panel member, you have the opportunity to work in areas of law outside of your usual practice.
  • Our panel members operate under Advocate’s direct access licence.
  • You can receive mentoring on the cases you work on with Advocate, via our mentoring scheme Collaborate
  • We ask our panel members to commit a minimum of three days a year.

Further information

“You can find yourself working hard. Then devoting yourself to your family. Then being in great demand. And then realise that you left something behind. You left some people out. Vulnerable people. You personally could have made a difference.

Advocate can help you make that difference, to make that promise of shared commitment to devote some of our work to the service of the most vulnerable.

If you make that promise today, you will remember it. It will always celebrate this time. It may bring gratitude from someone you have helped that has a quality you will not experience elsewhere.”

Sir Robin Knowles CBE, Former Chair of Advocate