Celebrating pro bono impact - Pro Bono Week 2025
3 November 2025
Pro Bono Week gives us an opportunity to highlight the individuals whose lives are transformed by early and impactful legal advice.
This year, alongside celebrating the many ways lawyers who provide free legal advice and representation to people who can’t afford it, we’re highlighting another way to make this commitment to access to justice reach even further, through Pro Bono Costs Orders.
Pro bono in action
Every Pro Bono Costs Order secured represents more than a technical win.
It creates a direct line from the courtroom to people like Michael.
A Londoner with a rare autoimmune condition Michael’s disability benefit application was wrongly rejected twice. With no access to legal aid, Michael turned to Z2K, where specialist caseworkers and pro bono solicitors helped him win his tribunal appeal and secure £9,700 per year that stabilised his finances and improved his wellbeing.
The pro bono support Michael received was funded directly by Pro Bono Costs Orders.
By securing costs orders in successful cases, pro bono lawyers leverage their volunteered time, providing longevity and stability to frontline legal advice organisations that support vulnerable individuals such as Michael.
From costs to community impact
Since 2008, almost £2 million in Pro Bono Costs Orders have been awarded to the Access to Justice Foundation and distributed as grants to charities providing vital free legal support across England and Wales.
We are the only funder dedicated to increasing free legal support across the UK, focussing on charities serving communities where people struggle to find or access legal help.
Thanks to Pro Bono Costs Order, the Foundation distributed almost £500,000 in grants across 10 organisations in our 2024–2026 funding round.
The Asylum Support Appeals Project used this funding to run their pro bono service and recruit, train, and support 12 new pro bono volunteers. As a result 88 people have been advised or represented with 84% of them successfully accessing accommodation or financial support.
Citizens Advice Braintree and South Essex is working with six local law firms to provide pro bono legal advice to almost 800 local residents. They told us:
““Without the funding we may have had to close our local pro bono service.””
This is the reality you support when you secure a Pro Bono Costs Order. One order can result in dozens of future clients receiving the specialist help that prevents homelessness, secures essential disability support, and breaks cycles of poverty for people with nowhere else to turn.
Take action this Pro Bono Week
Thank you to all the solicitors and barristers who have given their time and expertise to represent clients pro bono and successfully applied for Pro Bono Costs Orders.
Your advocacy for pro bono costs ensures that we can continue to channel funding to organisations making tangible differences in communities by helping people like Michael get access to legal advice that can help transform lives.
More news
-
We’re calling for an evidence-led approach to funding free legal advice through ILCA schemes
17 February 2026
We support exploring an ILCA scheme as a potential funding source for free legal advice, but we think any scheme introduced should look very different from the one the MoJ has proposed.
-
How Funded Partners Are Reaching the Most Underserved Communities
11 February 2026
In the second of our Making Grant making More Equitable series we continue to learn from our funded partners.
-
Undistributed damages in McLaren collective action
3 February 2026
The Competition Appeal Tribunal has handed down a ruling in the McLaren v MOL & Others case, following a Collective Settlement Approval Order hearing.
