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How does pro bono work for in-house lawyers?

A practical guide to setting up and managing pro bono in-house

Pro bono work for in-house lawyers follows many of the same principles as private practice but requires different structures, policies, and risk considerations. Organisations must define their approach, manage conflicts, ensure regulatory compliance, and secure internal support.

With guidance from specialist groups and charities, in-house legal teams can build effective programmes that expand access to justice while developing skills, engagement, and organisational impact.

Key takeaways

In-house pro bono requires defined policies, leadership, and internal approval.
Conflict management and insurance are key differences from private practice.
External organisations provide frameworks, training, and opportunities.
Pro bono can include advisory work, board roles, and legal education.
Measuring impact supports engagement and aligns with ESG objectives.

Is it a different process than private practice?

Pro bono – legal work provided free of charge by lawyers in the public interest – is said by the Law Society to help people in the UK and beyond to get access to justice if they cannot afford to pay for legal help. Advice or representation may be provided to individuals, charities or community groups.

In its Introduction to Pro Bono, the Law Society lists a number of reasons for lawyers to volunteer their time to work pro bono. These include increased job satisfaction, the development of professional and personal skills, boosting relationships in the team, and developing a network and personal profile.

These factors are as important for in-house teams as for law firms, but there are key differences, and there are specific resources available to in-house lawyers to allow their teams to consider the issues and develop a pro bono programme which is most suitable for the organisation.

Resources for anyone considering setting up an in-house pro bono programme can be found in the Some Resources section at the end of this article.

The pro bono charter

There is a Pro Bono Charter developed by the Law Society to allow law firms, in-house teams and alternative legal business structures to show they are committed to pro bono work to improve access to justice. In-house teams with at least one solicitor regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority can sign the Pro Bono Charter. It endorses the Joint Pro Bono Protocol which is intended to promote and support high standards of pro bono work, focusing on the provision by lawyers of their legal knowledge and skills.

Where do I start?

The first thing to bear in mind is that you aren’t alone. There are several organisations which have provided detailed resources to help you, including the Law Society, the In House Pro Bono Group, LawWorks, and the National Pro Bono Centre.

A good place to start is the Guide to In House Pro Bono which is published by the In House Pro Bono Group in collaboration with a number of other groups. This provides a detailed resource which steers you through setting a successful foundation for a pro bono programme. It includes tips on overcoming potential barriers, scoping a pro bono programme, building a pro bono infrastructure and delivering pro bono advice.

The Guide rightly stresses that there are a number of key things to decide:

What you mean by pro bono in your organisation – a definition which works for you and is commonly understood in your team
How you will lead your pro bono programme – with at least one person designated to coordinate the management of the programme
Whether you will set up a pro bono committee – this can be valuable, especially in larger teams
What your pro bono policy will be – including the structure of the committee, the nature of the work your organisation is willing to take on a pro bono basis and any restrictions you may need to impose on the nature of potential beneficiaries. It should also cover your pro bono strategy, the resources you have available, and how you will accept and monitor pro bono matters.
Your policy will also need to identify how you will determine potential conflicts of interest.

Creating a pro bono policy and documentation

You may also want to work up standard documents, including engagement and termination letters, an internal matter closing form, a memorandum of understanding setting out your agreement, and a conflicts provision pro forma. Details about those policies and documents can be found in the Law Society’s Pro Bono Manual, and TrustLaw’s Guide to Championing Pro Bono – again, links can be found at the end of this article.

Communicating and measuring impact

The Guide suggests that you will also want to decide how to communicate your programme within your organisation, for example on an intranet site or a quarterly newsletter, and how you measure the impact of your work. This can encourage continued participation within the team – but also allow you to consider how it might form part of your organisation’s own social purpose work and ESG framework.

Conflicts of interest

In-house teams will not normally have – or need - the sort of conflicts clearance mechanisms which law firms require. It is possible, though, that pro bono work may present conflict of interest issues – either directly or in business or reputational areas – which need to be considered. There should be a defined process for identifying and clearing conflicts, and the Guide notes that it may be advisable for some legal teams to avoid certain type of pro bono matters – for example financial institutions avoiding certain consumer law matters.

Delivering pro bono advice

The Guide includes helpful pointers and links about how to deliver pro bono advice, including the nature of different clients – individuals, charities/NGOs, social enterprises etc, and suggestions of organisations which support particular areas. For example, LawWorks supports a network of independent legal clinics, and supports in-house solicitors working in certain specialist social welfare cases such as benefits and unpaid wages claims. It also suggests that you may like to consider working with your own external law firms in a joint project, and provides a checklist of issues to consider.

Other options

While the typical image of pro bono work is the provision of legal advice to individuals or organisations who need it without charge – effectively in a transactional way – the Guide notes that lawyers may gain satisfaction, networking and skills development through other options. These can include:

Board roles - sitting on charitable or NGO boards - you can often find such vacancies through organisations such as Charity Job and Trustees Unlimited – there are links at the end of this article.
Public legal education – both as part of school education and as a resource for people involved in legal disputes who cannot obtain legal advice. Organisations arranging such work include LawWorks, which is also developing a Fellowship Programme for senior lawyers planning for life after full-time practice.

LawWorks

LawWorks is a charity which facilitates access to justice through free legal advice, by enabling access to justice to individuals who are not eligible to legal aid and are without the means to pay for a lawyer, and brokering legal advice to small not-for-profit organisations to support the continuation and expansion of their services.

In house pro bono group

The In House Pro Bono Group is a membership organisation which shares a collective belief that providing pro bono work is a professional responsibility for lawyers. It aims to:

foster a culture of commitment to pro bono,
promote and improve pro bono service and delivery,
share knowledge, best practice and resources,
connect in-house lawyers, charities and pro bono professionals, and
collaborate to make best use of its members’ unique skills and training to benefit others.

Regulation and insurance

In-house teams need to comply with the requirements of their professional bodies – the Solicitors Regulation Authority for solicitors in England and Wales, and the relevant bodies for other professional and those qualified in other jurisdictions. The SRA Standards and Regulations require that pro bono advice by in-house solicitors must be covered by ‘adequate and appropriate’ indemnity insurance for reserved activities, or those which combine both reserved and non-reserved activities. No insurance is required for non-reserved activities, but you will want to know what happens if things go wrong and as the Guide says, ‘you should carefully consider the potential risks of giving pro bono advice without adequate insurance’ as ‘you may be held personally liable for losses resulting from your advice…’.

The Guide notes that that the SRA’s interpretation of the Legal Services Act means that the in-house lawyer’s employer is responsible where it requires an in-house solicitor to provide pro bono work, provides management, supervision or training for such work, publicises and pro bono efforts, or pays a premium for an indemnity policy to cover pro bono work. As such it is essential to ensure that your employer is aware of the position and is content to accept that responsibility.

A starting point, of course, is to ensure that the employer is fully on board. It needs to be content with the concept and detail of the proposed programme, with any liability it may carry, and with the arrangements to deal with conflicts of interest.

The Law Society advice is that many pro bono charities and providers offer insurance for pro bono work. Where you sit as a director on the board of a charity or NGO it may be possible to provide cover through your organisation’s own insurance programme – some directors’ and officers’ policies provide extensions for in-house legal teams – but it’s essential to ensure you know how your work is covered.

What do other teams do?

The In House Pro Bono group publishes a Spotlight Series highlighting the pro bono work of a selection of organisations, for example Accenture, GSK, HSBC and Bloomberg. TrustLaw – which is Thomson Reuter’s pro bono network and is probably the world’s largest pro bono organisation – facilitates many volunteering opportunities offered by members of its network. You can also access opportunities through charities such as Advocates for International Development - which has recently announced that it is to merge with LawWorks - and the International Lawyers’ Project.

What to do next

There are many opportunities for in-house lawyers to make a difference by using their skills and knowledge for good. Many organisations allow their staff to use volunteering days to carry out work for charities, and using these days to allow in-house lawyers to share their legal skills can be really powerful. There are barriers – and it is important that they are recognised and dealt with in the scoping process.

An excellent starting point is the In House Pro Bono group’s Guide to In House Pro Bono, which together with TrustLaw’s Guide to Championing Pro Bono should set you thinking about whether you would like your team to become involved in pro bono, what the obstacles may be, and how you might go about promoting your programme within the organisation.

Remember that there’s no obligation to become involved – it must be voluntary on the part of the team members concerned – and that for some teams, simply encouraging colleagues to take up individual opportunities can be most appropriate, rather than an organisational or team arrangement.