#SerleShare – Pro Bono Week 2021

To mark the 20th annual Pro Bono Week which takes place from 1st to 5th November 2021, Beverly-Ann Rogers, Matthew Morrison and George Vare have authored a special edition SerleShare which looks back on a case that they were instructed on by Advocate (the Bar's national charity which offers free legal assistance to the community) at the end of 2020. The matter was a Stack v Dowden type dispute which was listed for a 4-day trial in the Reading County Court in November 2020.

The barristers were able to settle the dispute on favourable terms for their client which included the payment of costs to the Access to Justice Foundation.

We hope that this SerleShare demonstrates the importance of lawyers giving up their free time to assist Advocate and other similar organisations.

In this matter the client described the Consent Order as a "life changing event" – a welcome example of the difference that lawyers can make to those facing difficult and stressful situations without the means or ability to negotiate the court process themselves.

To read the full SerleShare, please click here.

Related Barristers

Matthew Morrison KC has a broad commercial chancery practice, with particular expertise in civil fraud, company and partnership disputes, and insolvency litigation.

Described by Chambers UK 2027 as an “outstanding barrister” who is “technically brilliant, fantastic with clients and someone whose cross-examination is exceptional”, Matthew regularly appears in the High Court and Court of Appeal and has acted in proceedings before the Grand Court and Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (BVI), the Supreme Court of Gibraltar, the Isle of Man High Court of Justice and the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts. He also has significant experience assisting advocates before the Royal Courts of Jersey and Guernsey. He is generally admitted to the BVI Bar and is currently admitted ad hoc on a number of matters in the Cayman Islands.

Matthew is an established legal author. He has written widely read PLC practice notes on minority shareholder remedies and edits chapters on directors’ duties and disqualification, and insolvency, in Gore-Browne, Butterworths Corporate Law Service, Tolley’s Company Law Service and Tolley’s Company Law Handbook; and on unfair prejudice, misfeasance and disqualification in the Law of Limited Liability Partnerships (Whittaker and Machell (6th ed.), 2026).