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Lifesaving lawyering

26 September 2025 / Bea Rossetto
Issue: 8132 / Categories: Features , Profession , Pro Bono , Charities , Training & education , Housing
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Commercial lawyers can make a real impact to those who need legal support the most—no specialist expertise required. Bea Rossetto introduces General Practice Pro Bono
  • General Practice Pro Bono uses everyday legal skills to deliver vital help for people facing housing and social welfare issues.

When people think of pro bono work, they often assume it requires deep subject matter expertise, in areas such as housing, family, immigration, or welfare. Understandably, many lawyers can be hesitant to get involved in cases outside their usual fee-earning practice, whether due to their unfamiliarity with the area of law, or simply not knowing where to start. But the reality is that many of the tasks required don’t demand retraining or niche legal knowledge to make a difference to someone’s case. What they do require are skills you already have: legal analysis and problem solving; drafting and document review; client communication; strategic decision-making; procedural awareness; and legal research.

At the National Pro Bono Centre, we call this ‘General Practice Pro Bono’. It’s about

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Kadie Bennett, Anthony Collins

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Firm appoints new UK senior partner for 2026

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Keoghs—Louise Jackson & Katie Everson

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NEWS
Lawyers and users of the business and property courts are invited to share their views on disclosure, in particular the operation of PD 57AD and the use of Technology Assisted Review (TAR) and artificial intelligence (AI)
Social media giants should face tortious liability for the psychological harms their platforms inflict, argues Harry Lambert of Outer Temple Chambers in this week’s NLJ
Ian Gascoigne of LexisNexis dissects the uneasy balance between open justice and confidentiality in England’s civil courts, in this week's NLJ. From public hearings to super-injunctions, he identifies five tiers of privacy—from fully open proceedings to entirely secret ones—showing how a patchwork of exceptions has evolved without clear design
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024—once heralded as a breakthrough—has instead plunged leaseholders into confusion, warns Shabnam Ali-Khan of Russell-Cooke in this week’s NLJ
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has now confirmed that offering a disabled employee a trial period in an alternative role can itself be a 'reasonable adjustment' under the Equality Act 2010: in this week's NLJ, Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve analyses the evolving case law
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