Pro Bono

Members of Serle Court frequently act on a pro bono basis, both providing written advice and appearing in court. Members volunteer for Advocate, the Bar’s national charity which offers free legal assistance to the community, and the Chancery Bar Litigants In Person (CLIPS) scheme, under which barristers provide free advocacy for litigants in person making urgent applications to the court.

Matthew Morrison, who is one of Advocates’ Pro Bono Champions, and Sophie Holcombe also review applications for assistance that are made to Advocate and decide whether or not cases should be matched with an assisting barrister. In addition, our mediators work with the Advocate Pro Bono Mediation Scheme.

Matthew Morrison is a member of the Chancery Bar Association Pro Bono Sub-Committee which, among other initiatives runs the CLIPS scheme, and is also responsible for PILARS, the Personal Insolvency Litigation Advice and Representation Scheme. PILARS works with Advocate to match individuals facing personal insolvency proceedings with specialist barristers who can help (often on an expedited basis), and has recently set up its own on the day support scheme to litigants in person in the Insolvency and Companies Court bankruptcy list. PILARS also offers training and guidance to frontline agencies helping individuals with debt problems. 

In this article from the Access to Justice Foundation, some of our members discuss their success in obtaining pro bono costs orders.

In this special edition of SerleShare, Beverly-Ann Rogers, Matthew Morrison and George Vare describe how they were instructed on a family law dispute by Advocate and were able to settle the dispute on favourable terms for their client. The client described the settlement as a "life changing event".  Click here to read their article.