Pro bono work

You can undertake pro bono work for friends, family and good causes as you see fit. Before starting you should let the Director of Operations and Compliance know:

1. The name of your client 2. A short description of the matter 3. Why you wish to undertake the work on a pro bono basis 4. Who will be doing the work 5. What possible liability you can foresee 6. How you will define the scope of the work in your Engagement Letter 7. Whether it would be acceptable to reduce the cap on our liability to the minimum, £3 million (if so, you should do this)

While it might seem counter intuitive, pro bono work is high risk and the Engagement Letter will need to be drafted with great care and the scope of works, assumptions and exclusions will need particular focus. There is often a disconnect; you think you are doing the client a favour and only helping out in a very limited respect. The client thinks your charity knows no bounds. Without that careful drafting of the Engagement Letter the default situation applies, i.e. you need to do a Rolls Royce job on every conceivable part of the matter.

Costs considerations

The Engagement Letter will often serve as a costs agreement. If the matter is litigious and costs are to be recovered on a successful outcome, costs and disbursements will need to be addressed in any costs disclosure or agreement in the Engagement Letter. Matters to include:

• Decide who will cover the cost of disbursements and that you are clear with your client up front.
• Be aware of the potential for claiming pro bono costs from the other side in contentious matters and consider the tactical implications at the outset. Pro bono costs orders (Section 194 costs) must be paid to the Access to Justice Foundation, a charity which distributes the money to agencies and projects which give free legal advice.
• Make sure you record time accurately with full narratives on matters where pro bono costs are potentially available. Section 194 orders are an exception to the indemnity principle. They are the same as ordinary legal costs orders, but they apply where a party has received free legal representation by any lawyer in the proceedings. The court can order the losing party to make a payment which covers any period when free representation was provided and which is based on what a paying client would receive.
• You should advise your client of the risk of an adverse costs order if the client is unsuccessful. The litigation engagement letter in Keyed-In covers important points in respect of adverse costs.

Further information on costs in pro bono matters can be found in Chapter 13 of the Pro Bono Manual. Chapter 17 also has advice in relation to pro bono engagement letters and Chapter 21 provides some sample pro bono wording which you may wish to incorporate into our standard engagement letter. The key to any engagement is effective communication and expectation setting; making sure that each party has a very clear understanding of what is being agreed to, what is not being agreed to and when the work or services will be provided.

Please also consider the Law Society guidance note for more information on practical and regulatory requirements relating to pro bono work (including expertise, insurance and supervision).