LawWorks - a resource for in house pro bono teams
In House Pro Bono Stories
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We sat down with Rebecca Wilkinson, Chief Executive Officer of LawWorks, to talk about the different programmes that LawWorks runs and how in house teams can get involved.
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Tell us about your organisation and projects
At LawWorks, we run a number of different projects that in-house legal teams can get involved with and the advantage of working with us is that we provide the necessary professional indemnity insurance.
By far our most popular scheme with in-house lawyers is our not-for-profit programme. Here, we act like a clearing house in that opportunities come to us, we trigae them and then we send them out, so we don't hold a client relationship. We match about 200 cases a year through this scheme and it is popular with in-house legal teams as it tends to match their skillset.
However, we do also operate a number of projects that are more bespoke, where we will put in more structure, supervision and support. These are known as our secondary specialisation projects, where we have expert solicitors employed by LawWorks and they train up and supervise lawyers. Some in-house teams participate in those programmes, especially where they want to be involved in areas outside their expertise.
We also have a clinics network, so if in house teams are looking to set up or be part of a clinic, our team can help facilitate that, but they are independent from LawWorks and we are there to support in a purely advisory capacity.
Lastly, we have a platform called Free Legal Answers where members of the public can ask one-off legal questions. Lawyers must be over 2 years post-qualification and equipped to answer the question. This can be a nice way to do pro bono because the work is discrete and you can just log in lunchtime to provide some much-needed help.
How can lawyers get involved in what you do?
We are a membership organisation, so we sign up in-house legal teams (as opposed to individuals). A membership officer will then contact the team lead and talk them through their legal expertise and interests. We can help guide them through our programmes and see what would suit them, or if they have something they would like to run that would like our support with, we also do that and we have insurance that will cover their work.
Is there a fee involved?
Our membership fee varies depending on the size of the in-house team signing up:
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For 40 lawyers or over, the cost is £1,122 + VAT.
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For fewer than 40 lawyers, the cost is £561 + VAT.
Is there a contact person/mailbox people can reach out to for more information?
Our contact email is info@lawworks.org.uk.