About Pro Bono
Pro Bono aims to increase the accessibility of legal services for individuals who cannot afford them for financial reasons. The cases in question for which pro bono services are offered include for instance legal aid to victims of domestic violence, protection of patient rights, consumer protection, children’s rights, help to refugees, consulting for the victims of discrimination, labour law disputes or discrimination disputes. The offer of free legal services in favour of public good causes is traditionally called “pro bono publico”, shortly pro bono.
For this project we define „pro bono“ as the unpaid work of attorneys. Pro bono work involves offering the free legal services to the following groups of clients:
- People with limited income
- Non-profit organizations (civil society organizations, churches, foundations, …) that are serving the interests and needs of people with limited income
- Individuals and legal persons that aim to protect human rights and public interest in precedential cases or other type of work with potentially wide impact (for instance legislation)
- Non-profit organizations dealing with their organizational matters
In a wider perspective, pro bono may also include other public service activities of lawyers, for example voluntary work, financial support to charitable organizations etc. Pro bono can be understood as the manifestation corporate social responsibility.
Why Pro Bono?
Involvement in pro bono activities is one of the ways lawyers accept their part of responsibility for functioning of society, which is based on the rule of law. The role of attorneys in a legal state is utterly irreplaceable. Part of that should be the pursuit of ensurement of the accessibility of legal protection for everyone regardless of their financial situation, as well as the pursuit of contribution to the solving of social problems with legal needs. Though, when it comes to pro bono services, it concerns a solely voluntary activity of attorneys, to support these activities one can refer to the Czech Bar Association's Code of Conduct. Article 18 of this Code states: “Should the lawyer be called upon to do so, he shall be obliged to participate, to the appropriate extent, in projects focused on enforcement or protection of human rights and freedoms, without being entitled to a fee, except serious reasons prevent him from doing so.”
Pro Bono and Accessible Legal Aid
Although an important target group in pro bono work consists of people with limited income, pro bono work is not there to replace the system of state-guaranteed legal aid, which should be guaranteed by state authorities. State cannot delegate this responsibility to attorneys without sufficient compensation. Such practice is, however, still present in the Czech Republic.
Law firms and Pro Bono
For potential clients and for public, a quality pro bono program in a law firm’s portfolio can be a sign of social responsibility and overall seriousness of the firm’s commitment to the legal profession. Pro bono legal services are an excellent opportunity to gain experience from various legal fields. Lawyers can then reuse this experience to help their future clients. The involvement in pro bono work can also make legal work more meaningful and thus contribute to greater satisfaction and higher efficiency. One can also expect that the number of attorneys, to whom a quality pro bono program will play an important role while choosing a particular law firms as their prospective employer, will grow.
Pro Bono Centrum
The pro bono program is executed by Pro Bono Aliance. Its aim is to promote the concept of pro bono among the Czech legal professional as well as general public. It also aims – by practical activities – to make it easier for attorneys in Czech Republic to get involved in pro bono activities. We believe that by doing so we will contribute to higher involvement of attorneys with pro bono activities in the future. Pro Bono Centrum strives to connect the offer of legal services from attorneys willing to work for pro bono and with the knowledge of topics and needs of potential clients recommended by non-profit organizations. The involvement of non-profit organizations in the Pro Bono Centrum program guarantees that the law firms will be offered only cases to which the provision of free legal aid is justified. Pro Bono Centrum does not clear legal services in the fields of corporate and criminal law (with the exception of help to injured parties).
Types of Pro Bono Services
Help to socially disadvantaged clients in individual cases (including representation in courts)
- family law (divorces, property settlement, community property, …)
- labour law (discrimination, dismissals, …)
- distraint law (unlawful distraints, …)
- contract law (contract proposal and revision, complaints, contracts of sale, contracts of, …)
- inheritance law (writing a will, disinheritance, …)
- obligation law (rent, unjust enrichment, …)
- civil law (civil lawsuits, personal rights, capacity of natural and juridical persons, …)
- criminal law (legal aid to injured parties)
- administrative law (expropriation, asylum, citizenship, …)
- environmental law (pollution, public law contracts, …)
Transactional, analytical and litigation support to non-profit organizations:
- Labour law consulting (non-compete clauses, dismissals, volunteers, …)
- Legal help with revision or change of statues, contract drafting, tax consulting
- Incumbency of legal entities
- Change of legal forms
- Comparative legal research
- Legal analysis
- Litigation before the European Court of Human Rights
