Setting up a pro bono project

Here are a few things to consider…

• Original Project. Make sure that the idea for the project you have and the people you wish to target are not already accounted for within other local or student voluntary projects. Apart from the fact that there may not be a need for your new group, you don’t want to step on the toes of those involved with other groups or schemes already underway.

• Conduct research that could help you discover the most useful and necessary project to start up in your local area. For example, there may not be any involvement or interaction with local primary and secondary schools and your law school so therefore a project such as Street Law may work well. Alternatively, if you have become particularly interested in specific subjects putting your knowledge into practice via pro-bono activity could prove useful.

• Think about your time constrictions. Involvement with pro-bono is of course worthwhile, but your degree and academic work will always be your priority. If you feel that juggling the organisation and management of a pro-bono group may jeopardise your chances of getting good grades then perhaps think about getting involved with pro-bono at a lower level. For example you could volunteer at the local Citizens Advice Bureau offices periodically, or perhaps get involved with groups that are already in place (see below) rather than starting up or running a group. If however you feel that you could set up a group, then the key is to be organised and clear of what you wish to achieve with your group and who you want to address in doing so.


• Start early; use any spare time that you may have to begin planning. For example if you are planning to begin your group at the start of the year, then use a couple of weeks of the summer holidays for organisation and to contact any relevant people for advice and information; such as faculty members within your university that could offer you guidance or support, and groups within other universities that are running similar projects. Proper and thorough research will help you realise the best type of project to undertake, or indeed whether your idea is feasible and could go ahead. The research will have implications regarding the best type of scheme to select, and essentially whether it could be successful. Remember that starting any new project takes a large degree of commitment and this will need to be consistent if you want your project to go well.

• Make a plan. It might also be a good idea to draw up a plan for the year containing the project’s objectives; the stage at which you allocate time for promotions, training and planning for the first session or event. This will help to clarify exactly what can be achieved by your project in the coming year.

• How much involvement will it require. You will also need to consider the level of involvement necessary within your project. Consideration must be given to the issue of whether there will be a sufficient amount of people that you are studying with that would be interested in getting involved with your project. It might also be a good idea to try and put together a few people to form a committee under your leadership, who could help with both the preliminary work and the project throughout the year.

• Promotion. Once the idea of the project has been properly researched and the plan for the year is in place, the project will need to be promoted in order to recruit a suitable amount of volunteers. It is a good idea to contact the careers department at your school or university who can put you in touch with the voluntary sector. If you become a registered voluntary group within your institution then they may be able to help you in terms of promotions and recruitment. I did this with my university and was therefore able to get some information about my pro-bono group up on their website as well as attend the volunteer’s fair where those interested in being involved could sign up. It is also a good idea to have links with the careers department and attend any fairs (hopefully specific law fairs) that are run. This can again assist with recruitment and promotion. It may also be worth putting on an information session about the project and invite all students to see if they would like to become involved. Try and make sure emails are sent to all students within your institution at any given opportunity to let them know about your project, why they should be involved and where they can sign up.

• Training. Once you feel that there are a suitable amount of people that have expressed an interest in becoming involved then you may need to arrange the training of your volunteers. This will obviously differ according to each group and you will probably need to get people of a professional calibre incorporated within the training session in order to provide volunteers with the best possible knowledge. For example, in my Street Law session there was a talk from a professional about child protection and the implications that surround working with children. It is very important that you find out whether you need to perform necessary tasks such as CRB (Criminal Record Bureau) checks upon yourself or your volunteers in order for your project to go ahead. This is where the voluntary or careers co-ordinators as well as faculty members and teachers may be able to help you.

Sameena Manzar

LLB graduate from the University of East Anglia

30-09-2009