A rallying cry for lawyers to meet a growing demand for free legal services in their communities
(Clarifies that pro bono prize was awarded by Public Interest Law Institute)
British peer and solicitor Andrew Phillips raised a rallying cry to lawyers on Friday to leave the “ghetto” of their practices and become more engaged in public life to meet a growing demand for free legal services.
Accepting an award for advancing the culture of pro bono throughout Europe, Lord Phillips of Sudbury, a Liberal Democrat lawmaker in Britain’s upper house of parliament, said too many lawyers had become distanced from their communities.
“If you take the large law firms, they no longer practice within communities,” he told the European Pro Bono Forum in Paris, organised by the Public interest Law Institute, which gave him the prize. "They are not part and parcel of the community where they understand in their guts what the needs of ordinary people are. They’re in a sort of ghetto.”
Lord Phillips founded the law firm Bates, Wells & Braithwaite in London in 1970. He also established three national charities, including the Solicitors Pro Bono Group (now called LawWorks), which provides pro bono help to the public, and the Citizen Foundation, a leading citizenship educator in Britain.
He was made a Life Peer in the House of Lords in 1998. His pro bono work involved helping charities stay on the right side of Britain’s strict charity laws.
Describing his time as a young lawyer, Lord Phillips said 95 percent of solicitors used to be community lawyers.
“In those days lawyers were pillars of the community,” he said. “They did bags and bags of community work. It expanded their horizons. One of the sadnesses of today (is) that we lawyers who have so much to give to public life with our skills and our experience, fewer and fewer of us are doing that.”
He added that the law in England had become “an instrument for the wealthy and powerful to get their way. What sort of society is that? We have to do something about it.”
But he ended on a hopeful note, saying he had been encouraged by the young lawyers he had met at the forum.
“I’ve been hugely impressed and uplifted by particularly the younger members of this forum,” he said. “Young people (are) determined to get at injustice and do something about it.”
Lord Phillips dedicated the award to the memory of his father, who he said only retired from practicing law at the age of 87 and was the longest serving solicitor in England.
“I learnt with my mother’s milk really that lawyering is no ordinary trade,” he said. “It’s a position of privilege."
Ian Forrester, QC, a partner in the Brussels office of White & Case, presented the award to Lord Phillips, noting that the peer had been able to combine a successful and lucrative career with providing a service to society.
“Lord Phillips is not saying that we should give our goods to the poor like St. Francis,” Forrester said. “He is not a monk. He has had a successful professional life. He believes that pro bono should be done because it’s morally right. He believes also that pro bono can be fun. He believes that pro bono can teach you how to practice law better.”
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