27 June 2025 / Bea Rossetto

Issue: 8122 / Categories: Features , Pro Bono , Charities , Profession , Career focus

Turning the page on pro bono

It’s time for a new story on pro bono, says Bea Rossetto: one that grounds it as a vital public service delivering justice for all

We hear it all the time—‘pro bono work has never been more vital’. This is true. But it has also never been more vulnerable to misrepresentation.

From Trump’s recent attacks on pro bono lawyers assisting migrants at the US border to the targeting of immigration solicitors and legal advice centres during the 2024 UK riots, it is clear that the toxic narrative surrounding the justice system is not just rhetoric—it is fuelling real-world hostility and undermining the principle of equal justice.

That’s why the Law Society’s new Reframing Justice toolkit, developed with FrameWorks UK, is a timely resource. At the National Pro Bono Centre, we believe this strategy isn’t just for public affairs teams at law firms. It offers powerful guidance for everyone in the pro bono sector—particularly those of us trying to grow lawyer involvement, build public understanding, and secure

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Turning the page on pro bono

It’s time for a new story on pro bono, says Bea Rossetto: one that grounds it as a vital public service delivering justice for all

We hear it all the time—‘pro bono work has never been more vital’. This is true. But it has also never been more vulnerable to misrepresentation.

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content

If you are already a subscriber sign in

...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

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NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation

NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere

Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group

NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall

A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision

NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?

An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading

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Turning the page on pro bono

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Blake Morgan—four promotions