Pro bono no replacement for properly funded system, says Wotton

The president of the Law Society, John Wotton, recently told delegates at the International Legal Forum that while pro bono makes a valuable contribution to the provision of access to justice, it is no substitute for a properly funded legal aid system.

Wotton was accompanying Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke to the conference in St Petersburg. The event provided an opportunity to meet Prime Minister Medvedev and senior Russian business leaders, and to promote the benefits of London as a legal and financial centre. Research undertaken by the Law Society indicates that last year an average of 55 hours pro bono work per solicitor per year was undertaken, valued at £518 million.

In his presentation, John Wotton said: "Pro bono is an important element in the provision of access to justice, with a long and venerable tradition that benefits the public and the profession...[However, it] should only be an adjunct and not a substitute for a properly funded legal aid system. In the new environment, in which legal aid in England & Wales has been removed from large areas of civil work, we need to do more. Specifically, we need to involve more stakeholders, both within the profession and outside, to find new ways of bridging the access to justice gap which has been created by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offers Act (LASPO)."

Wotton went on to describe what the Law Society is doing to help bridge that gap, including running a series of debates on the theme of "Protecting Access to Justice in a post-LASPO World".