News
Pro Bono awards
- 18th November 2009
Four young lawyers, including a trainee who is setting up a dedicated pro bono website, have won awards for their services to pro bono work. Norton Rose trainee Bobby Kensah won the accolade of Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) pro bono lawyer of the year and was singled out for the ‘countless hours’ he put into various pro bono initiatives. He says: “If by winning this award I can inspire at least one person or lawyer to get more involved in pro bono work then I will be a very happy man.
“So far, a lot of publicity has been generated and I have taken on the responsibility of being an ambassador for the Law Society in terms of pushing its pro bono agenda for lawyers. I hope that with pro bono work being in the forefront it would encourage other lawyers to get more involved. I hope to have demonstrated that one can have a busy schedule and busy workload but yet still have to time to give back to the community. It is essential that as lawyers, in particular city lawyers, we understand our responsibility to our community and that we act on it.”
He is now setting up a pro bono information website aimed at trainee solicitors. He explains: “The website is still in its infancy and will require support from various firms. We are really seeking to create a platform of leadership training which puts pro bono work at the forefront as a way of developing one’s skills. We also seek to provide online training for volunteers or pro bono advisers which will be led by firms and various volunteering organizations. With this website I want to focus on skills building for those involved in giving back to their community by providing free online training. We hope to get the website out as soon as we finish the main groundwork for it. It will require a lot of hard work and time but it will definitely be worth it.”
The JLD Pro Bono Awards celebrated pro bono work carried out by LPC students, trainees as well as newly qualified solicitors.
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