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Pro Bono Week 2026 was launched on the evening of Monday 2 November, marking 25 years since the event was established in 2002. The launch was hosted by TrustLaw, the pro bono legal network of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, and featured a keynote from the Attorney General for England and Wales, the Rt Hon Ellie Reeves KC MP.
According to the Bar Council’s press release, the week has featured as many as 200 pro bono initiatives and publications over its history in the UK, and this year’s Pro Bono Recognition List includes more than 5,000 lawyers. On Tuesday 3 November, the Solicitor General for England and Wales, Andy Slaughter KC MP, was due to join Young Lawyers events aimed at early-career barristers and solicitors.
Key points
- The UK Collaborative Plan for Pro Bono launched its 2025 statistics, recording 645,453 hours of pro bono work by 88 member law firms in 2025, a 1.29% increase on the previous year.
- Advocate, the pro bono charity for the Bar of England and Wales, marked its 30th anniversary and recorded 5,634 requests for help in its 2025/26 financial year, a 35% increase on the year before.
- The Law Society of England and Wales marked the 10th anniversary of its Pro Bono Charter.
- The Pro Bono Recognition List of England and Wales for 2026 grew by 16% on the previous year, recognising 4,630 solicitors, 700 barristers, 136 legal executives, 47 registered foreign or European lawyers, and for the first time 37 trademark and patent attorneys.
- Public Interest Litigation Support Northern Ireland marked the 15th anniversary of its Pro Bono Register, now comprising more than 120 lawyers, including 87 barristers, 20% of whom have taken silk, and 30 solicitors.
Launch and events
The launch event, held under the theme “Celebrate a tradition. Inspire action. Shape the future,” also heard from Pro Bono Week’s chair Toby Brown, Justice 4 Windrush lawyer Pauline Campbell, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s head of legal for access to law Kathryn Beck, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s international pro bono partner Yasmin Waljee OBE, and Northern Ireland barrister Wesley McGrady BL. Events are taking place online and in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.
The History of Pro Bono exhibition, launched in Parliament the week before, traces the legal profession’s pro bono tradition from mediaeval times to the modern day and is now available online. The Faculty of Advocates in Scotland has launched a new exhibition on the history of Scottish pro bono in Parliament Hall and will host the next meeting of the Scottish Pro Bono Roundtable on Wednesday 4 November. The Pro Bono Committee for Wales’ event on the history of pro bono in Cardiff on 4 November will include a copy of the 14th century Laws of Hywel, which the Bar Council said may have contained the UK’s first law for the provision of free advocates for litigants.
Reaction
The Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP, said: “For 25 years, Pro Bono Week has shown the legal profession at its very best. Pro bono can be a lifeline when an everyday problem turns into a legal crisis, and the lawyers who volunteer should be applauded for their participation.”
Law Society of England and Wales president Brett Dixon said the Law Society was “proud to celebrate the dedication and expertise of solicitors who give their time to ensure access to justice,” adding that “pro bono support cannot and should not be expected to replace a properly funded legal aid system.”
Bar Council of England and Wales chair Kirsty Brimelow KC said the Bar Council was “thrilled to mark the 25th annual Pro Bono Week, celebrating the dedication of barristers who volunteer their time and expertise to help people access justice.” She said the annual presentation of the Lifetime Achievement in Pro Bono, the Sydney Elland Goldsmith Award, would take place later in the month at Bar Conference, with Rob Rinder MBE presenting the award. Brimelow added that pro bono work “is not a substitute for legal aid and should not act as a substitute for a properly funded justice system.”