News

We were delighted to host our Pro Bono Week in Akin’s London office last month where Dame Elizabeth Gardiner DCB KC (Hon), Patron of PBS, spoke on the value of pro bono and how it helps to shape the legal profession.

We are pleased to announce that Matthew Layton, former Global Managing Partner at Clifford Chance and now Senior Advisor at FTI Consulting, has accepted an invitation to become patron of PBS.

Helena Siebenrock awarded the Diana Award for her work with Pro Bono Skills and the Aberdeen Law Project.

We’re pleased to share that Summer Houlder, SQE student, BPP, Danyal Raza, jurisprudence student, University of Oxford, and Amelia Quince, law student, University of Cambridge, have joined PBS’ E&W Steering Committee.

Ryan Wells, Engineering Manager at Shopify, has joined PBS’ Group-wide committee as Director of Technical Development.

We’re pleased to announce that Jack Whittaker, LPC & MSc student, Sonia Gandhi, LPC student, and Jay Elder, DPLP student, have joined PBS’ E&W Steering Committee.

We are pleased to announce that Annahita Moradi-Balf, Barrister, One Pump Court, has joined PBS’ England & Wales Steering Committee.

We are pleased to announce that Dame Elizabeth Gardiner DCB KC (Hon), First Parliamentary Counsel and Permanent Secretary of the Government in Parliament Group in the Cabinet Office, has accepted an invitation to become patron of PBS.

We are pleased to share that Tim Chelmick, Barrister, 4 New Square, has joined PBS’ England & Wales Steering Committee.

Tim is a commercial barrister whose practice has a particular emphasis on international arbitration, construction, and professional liability.

We’re excited to confirm that the PBS rollout in England & Wales is now underway.

PBS is a collaborative community. We exist to serve, to help, which is why we are always keen to engage with students, those in academia, law firms, and third sector organisations who are providing – or wish to provide – pro bono assistance to those who find themselves in the justice gap.

We are delighted to share that PBS Steering Committee member Emma Boffey has called to the bar. Emma, who has joined Axiom Advocates, previously practised as a solicitor for nine years with international law firm CMS before becoming a devil and was dual qualified in both Scotland and England & Wales.

We are pleased to report that PBS’s Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe, who was named one of Young Women Scotland’s 30 under 30 in 2020 and lectures in law, has been appointed Vice-Chair of JUSTICE Scotland, the Scottish branch of the law reform charity. JUSTICE has been in operation since 1957 and focuses on promoting access to justice and conducting research to help make practicable, workable recommendations for reform.

We are delighted to report that our own Aideen Byrne, Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education Coordinator, University of Edinburgh, and Gabriella Barnes, DPLP student, University of Edinburgh, have been awarded a significant grant for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Access to Justice Clinic they have launched.

We are delighted to announce that Steering Committee member Calum Lamont has been successful in his application for silk.

We are delighted to confirm the appointment of Frances McMenamin QC, Senior Counsel, Black Chambers as a Patron of Probonoskills.com (“PBS”).

Probonoskills.com (“PBS”) is pleased to announce that Rebecca Samaras, Director of Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education, University of Edinburgh, has agreed to become a Patron of PBS.

We are pleased to report that Probonoskills.com’s (“PBS”) co-founder, Aideen Byrne, has been shortlisted for the University of Edinburgh’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences’ “Excellent Newcomer” award. The annual, peer-nominated award is designed to recognise those who have made a particularly significant impact during their first year in post.

ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS”) can today announce that it will collaborate with NatWest Group on a range of initiatives. In addition, Philip Hall, Senior Legal Counsel in the Outsourcing, Technology and IP team, will join the PBS Advisory Board.

The team at ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS”) is pleased to confirm the addition of Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe from Glasgow Caledonian University and Eilidh McDermott of the University of Edinburgh to the Steering Committee.

We are delighted to announce ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS”), an online platform that will provide free on-demand video training to law students involved in pro bono work across Scotland.

PBS, the first platform of its kind, will give pro bono students access to bespoke training materials that are designed to make them better able to advise and represent those in the justice gap.

The team at ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS“) is delighted to welcome its latest additions to the Steering Committee: Amy Walsh, Senior Associate at Harper Macleod; Leigh Gapinski, former Linklaters Associate currently working with the Thought Machine; Ruth Douglas, Head of Legal Policy at Charity Commission for England and Wales; and Finlay Fraser, Associate at White & Case.

ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS”) is very pleased to announce that the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates Roddy Dunlop QC has been appointed Patron of the organisation.

The Dean, a graduate of Edinburgh University and a member of Axiom Advocates, is the only Scottish silk to be ranked in seven separate practice areas by Chambers UK, who place him as a Band 1 Silk in the areas of professional discipline, professional negligence, commercial dispute resolution, media law, medical negligence and public procurement.

In a landmark development for ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS“), the Aberdeen Law Project, the University of Edinburgh Free Legal Advice Centre and the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic have all signed up to receive training from PBS.

The law students involved with these clinics are now in the process of signing up to PBS and once their involvement with a participating law clinic has been verified, they will be able to access materials that focus on everything from substantive law and practical skills to ethics and wellness.

Addleshaw Goddard, Harper MacLeod, Core Solutions, Squaring Circles, and advocates from Axiom, Ampersand and Arnot Manderston stables, are the latest big names to sign up to provide webinars for ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS“).

ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS“) is pleased to announce the launch of its Steering Committee. The initial Steering Committee is made up of founders Ryan Whelan, Jonathan Goodyear and Aideen Byrne together with Emma Boffey, Victorie-Anne Gomez-Llorens, Helena Siebenrock, Jamie Perriam and James Anderson.

ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS”) is delighted to announce that Aideen Byrne, Assistant of the Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education Department at the University of Edinburgh Law School, has joined PBS as a founding member.

We are delighted to announce that Willkie Farr, CMS, Dentons, Leading Minds, and the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Strathclyde have signed up to provide ProBonoSkills.com (“PBS”) webinars.

These webinars will provide training on a range of topics, covering everything from fundamental legal skills to wellness and they will be available in our initial round of videos due for release at the start of the new academic year.