Bar Pro Bono Awards
Kindly sponsored by LexisNexis
Nominations are now open for the 2025 Bar Pro Bono Awards taking place on Tuesday 6th May 2025. Please download the nominations form here and return it with two supporting letters to awards@weareadvocate.org.uk no later than 5pm on Friday 31st January 2025.
Since 1997, the Bar Pro Bono Awards have been a unique opportunity in the legal calendar to celebrate the remarkable pro bono achievements of the Bar in England and Wales.
We hold the awards annually to ensure that the brilliant pro bono work happening at the Bar receives the recognition it rightly deserves.
We have nine award categories:
- Young Pro Bono Barrister of the Year - sponsored by Place Campbell
- Junior Pro Bono Barrister of the Year - sponsored by Westgate Wealth Management
- Pro Bono KC of the Year - sponsored by Hewetson & Co
- International Pro Bono Barrister of the Year - sponsored by Ankura
- Pro Bono Chambers' Professional of the Year
- Pro Bono Chambers of the Year - sponsored by ABC Chambers Solutions
- Lifetime Achievement in Pro Bono, the Sydney Elland Goldsmith Award
- Pro Bono and Social Responsibility Initiative of the Year - sponsored by Balance Legal Capital
- John Collins Pro Bono Excellence Award
Our 2025 judges are:
- Barbara Mills KC, Chair of the Bar Council
- Kirsty Brimelow KC, Vice Chair of the Bar Council
- Lord Goldsmith KC, Founder of Advocate
- Lachlan Stewart, Chair of the Young Barristers' Committee
- Sara George, Chair of the Employed Barristers' Committee
- Samantha Singer, Co-Chair of the Bar Council Pro Bono and Social Responsibility Group
- Laurie Scher, Co-Chair of the Bar Council Pro Bono and Social Responsibility Group
- Dave Scothern, Chair of the Institute of Barristers' Clerks
- Will Tolcher, Global Bar Editor at The Legal 500
- Jemma Tagg, Co-Chair of the Legal Practice Management Association
- James Whiting, Co-Chair of the Legal Practice Management Association
- Jason Pitter KC, Leader of the North Eastern Circuit
- Sheila Collins, the widow of the late John Collins
See the full list of 2024 winners and the 2024 brochure, which contains more information about the full list of shortlisted nominees. See the coverage of the 2024 winners in Counsel magazine here and here.
See our full list of past winners.
For any queries about the awards, please contact awards@weareadvocate.org.uk.