Pro bono work not only benefits the disadvantaged, it can also boost a trainee's CV. Yet senior professionals, not just saintly students, are doing it too. Charlie Wright looks at how pro bono can make a difference

It is frequently noted by cultural commentators - and opponents of the 2003 invasion of Iraq - that where the US goes, the UK soon invariably follows.

Yet, while the concept of pro bono work has long been a cornerstone of US legal practice, the UK is traditionally regarded to have rather lagged behind its larger cousin in this respect.

Recently, however, the profile of pro bono work has been on the rise - among UK solicitors at least - with a number of senior lawyers throwing their weight behind various schemes to benefit the disadvantaged.

Magic circle firm Allen & Overy and fellow top 10 City outfit Lovells both launched separate initiatives last year to raise extra cash for pro bono projects, while 2005 also saw transatlantic giant DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary confirm that it would allow its 1,400 UK lawyers to count pro bono work towards their billable hours targets.

At the Bar, meanwhile, a long tradition of free representation in court for deserving causes continues, with organisations such as the Bar Pro Bono Unit (BPBU) and the Free Representation Unit looking to increasingly co-ordinate national efforts - a role similar to that carried out by what was until recently known as the Solicitors' Pro Bono Group, rechristened Law-Works at the start of the year.

"Barristers have always done, and continue to do, an enormous amount of pro bono work," says BPBU director Alice Sheldon. "[But] now pro bono is being recognised more and more as one of the professional aspects of being a lawyer in practice. Understanding pro bono work and having an early involvement in it also sets you up well for the career ahead."

As well as making an often invaluable contribution to the community, pro bono work represents a much-needed opportunity for many students to utilise their skills away from the classroom in a practical environment.

Some will also have noted that showing a commitment to pro bono work does little harm to a CV. As Sheldon confirms: "In terms of career development and getting to the Bar or being a solicitor, having demonstrated your commitment to pro bono work - and having benefited from the skills that it gives you in practice - is certainly seen as a plus."

Accordingly, many students of the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) are eager to involve themselves in the various pro bono efforts engaged in by law schools throughout the UK.

The largest such schemes are run by the College of Law and BPP Law School, which recently expanded its pro bono programme into a genuinely national concern.

The BPP Pro Bono Centre opened in February 2004 in the school's main Holborn campus, with additional centres opening in Leeds in October that year and Manchester in October 2005.

A cornerstone of the school's pro bono programme is the BPP Legal Advice Clinic, an appointment-based free service providing much-needed legal support to members of the local community in areas such as family law, housing and employment.

Students can also join any or all of the dedicated groups targeting areas including human rights, environmental law and intellectual property. "Human rights is tremendously popular - probably the most popular of the programmes," says BPP director of pro bono Kara Irwin, suggesting that the strong international flavour of much of the work is a key attraction for many students.

She points to legal research done on behalf of those campaigning to free the prisoners held at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as one example of the type of work done by the human rights group, which numbers several hundred members.

Meanwhile, the Streetlaw UK initiative - derived from the US-based Street Law Program and with similar schemes now active in more than 30 countries - gives students the chance to help promote education and awareness of the law and the rights of individuals that it protects.

Over time, the centre has developed close links with senior professionals from a number of chambers, including leading family law set 29 Bedford Row, while top firms to have participated in pro bono ventures with the centre include US leaders Shearman & Sterling, Debevoise & Plimpton and Weil Gotshal & Manges, as well as UK giant Norton Rose.

The human rights group also has links with not-for-profit organisations such as Liberty.

Irwin adds: "[Pro bono work] is a form of clinical legal education that intensifies what is learned in the classroom. It is one thing to learn about the abstract principles of the law, but quite another to practise it in the context of real life.

"The idea is to get students to use their newlyacquired skills and experience for the benefit of those who otherwise could not get it."

The programme runs a number of initiatives which can give BVC students invaluable experience in areas such as advocacy and client-handling - things that are difficult, if not impossible, to teach effectively in the dry surrounds of a lecture hall.

The Legal Advice Clinic often assists tenants in leasehold tribunals, giving BVC students the chance to represent real clients in genuine disputes, often finding themselves opposite experienced counsel - something that Irwin says gives students a real "buzz".

Volunteers to the Personal Services Unit, meanwhile, give informal support to litigantsin-person at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Another project, run in conjunction with the Citizenship Foundation, sees BVC students assist local secondary schools to create 'mock trials' designed to promote awareness of the law among schoolchildren.

"It is a different way of learning and really engages the students," argues Irwin, who says that explaining some of the legal issues and procedures involved to the schoolchildren can in turn help BVC students solidify their own knowledge.

Irwin stresses the importance of getting senior professionals involved in the various pro bono schemes on offer to students. As well as taking on the supervisory roles necessary to make the programme succeed, experienced counsel can act as role models for eager students.

As Irwin puts it, the involvement of successful professionals shows students that pro bono work is an on-going obligation for the profession as a whole - not simply an extra-curricular activity for students needing to improve a CV.

While motivation ranges from genuine altruism to more prosaic concerns such as gaining experience, there is little doubt that chambers do look kindly upon enthusiastic contributors to pro bono causes when pupillages are being handed out.

Irwin says: "When employers look at a whole bunch of CVs there is often nothing to differentiate them. [Having done] something like the Guantanamo Bay research really jumps out at you. It also makes a big difference at interviews and gives people something really substantial to talk about."

Making a difference - that is precisely the pro bono ethos.