UK lawyers log over 645,000 hours of pro bono work in 2025 as demand for free legal help surges 35%, with access to justice gaps widening
UK law firms recorded 645,453 hours of pro bono work in 2025, a 1.29% increase on 2024 levels, according to data from the UK Collaborative Plan for Pro Bono, released during UK Pro Bono Week 2026 (2 to 6 November). Pro Bono Week was established in 2002 and this year marks its 25th edition. Advocate, the Bar's national pro bono charity in England and Wales, received 5,634 requests for free legal advice in 2025/26, an increase of 35%. Applications for assistance with employment law rose 48% and housing law rose 21% since 2021. Advocate's panel has grown from 350 barristers in 1996 to more than 5,000 today. In-house legal teams are also expanding their commitments: legal heads at Lloyds Banking Group, Mondelez International, and Societe Generale signed the UK In House Pro Bono Pledge, which now extends to 25 companies including Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, and GSK. The 2026 Pro Bono Recognition List of England and Wales grew by 16%, recognising 4,630 solicitors. Law Society of England and Wales president Brett Dixon and Bar Council chair Kirsty Brimelow KC both emphasised that pro bono cannot substitute for a properly funded legal aid system. UK Attorney General Ellie Reeves KC gave the keynote address at the official launch, hosted by TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation's pro bono legal network. The Law Society is also marking the 10th anniversary of its Pro Bono Charter.
Why this matters
The 35% surge in requests to Advocate, set against a 1.29% rise in hours recorded, underscores a structural gap: demand for free legal help is growing far faster than the profession's capacity to supply it. The concentration of that demand in employment and housing law, two areas devastated by legal aid cuts and pandemic backlogs, points to systemic rather than cyclical pressure. For City and commercial law firms, the Pro Bono Week data matters as a reputational and recruitment signal: junior lawyers increasingly cite pro bono access as a factor in firm selection, and in-house pledges from Goldman Sachs and GSK signal that corporates view structured pro bono as part of their governance posture. The attorney general's presence at the launch also signals government awareness that the justice system's credibility depends partly on the profession filling gaps that the state is not adequately funding.
On the Ground
The data creates direct work for legal aid and access to justice practices, employment law, and housing law departments at firms with significant pro bono commitments. For trainees, this is relevant to the supervised pro bono hours now embedded in many training contracts: trainees at Magic Circle and Silver Circle firms may be assigned to in-house pro bono clinics covering employment tribunal representation or housing disrepair cases. Pro bono coordinators also rely on trainees to handle client intake, prepare witness statement bundles, and draft skeleton argument research under supervision. The in-house pledge commitments from Lloyds Banking Group, Societe Generale, and others generate additional coordination work for law firms managing the administration of those pledges.
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