Please click here for Pro Bono Criteria
The Northern Ireland Lawyers Pro Bono Unit is a joint venture sponsored by the General Council of the Bar of Northern Ireland and the Law Society of Northern Ireland.
The objective of the Unit is to provide Pro Bono free legal advice and representation in deserving cases where Legal Aid or other funding is not available and where the applicant is unable to afford legal assistance. The Unit has been set up as a company limited by guarantee and is registered as a charity.
Mr Appleton is a founding member. It is his view that although lawyers have in the past often given their services without payment to those with worthy causes, both branches of the legal profession in Northern Ireland have joined to establish a formal scheme whereby those without funding can obtain representation and advice from solicitors, barristers and QCs.
The Management Committee with Mr Liam McCollum QC as Chair and Brian Garrett as Vice-Chairman and representatives from both the Bar Council and Law Society, feel that the scheme is no substitute for a properly funded Legal Aid system which must remain the principal means for assisting those with insufficient means to obtain legal services. The scheme was in response to a concern from the lawyers about the number of people who slipped through the Legal Aid net. The Management Committee believes that the Unit will make a real contribution to tackling specific instances of injustice.
Advice and representation is provided by barristers and solicitors who have volunteered to join the panel and who cover the full range of legal specialisations. Each has offered their services free of charge up to 3 days or 20 hours each year.
The cases most likely to meet the criterion of the Pro Bono Unit will be appeals, applications for leave to appeal, judicial review applications, specific steps in proceedings, tribunal hearings and advisory work. Cases that raise a specific issue of principal or test cases are particularly welcomed.
More than 100 barristers from across Northern Ireland, including more than 30 QCs, have volunteered for this scheme which formalises and complements a long tradition of barristers individually acting without a fee in deserving cases.
The response from solicitors has been impressive. Over 100 firms of Solicitors have volunteered to participate. The formal scheme builds on the well established commitment to the provision of Pro Bono advice by solicitors at local level which has always formed part of the professional ethos of solicitors here.
Please click here for further information about the Lawyers Pro Bono unit.
Please click here to download a copy of the Lawyers Pro Bono Application Form.
Anyone wising to obtain further information should write in the first instance to:
The Northern Ireland Lawyers Pro Bono Unit
The Bar Library, 91 Chichester Street, Belfast, BT1 3JQ
Telephone Number: 02890 562385.