Pro bono has long been at best a secondary consideration for in-house lawyers. When the Law Society’s rules preventing in-house lawyers from acting for anyone other than their employer were lifted in 1998, corporate counsel finally became able to give pro bono advice but, eight years on, only a handful of in-house teams have taken up the challenge.
Given that pro bono work cannot be claimed by in-house lawyers as billable hours, it is understandable that many corporate practitioners say that they cannot find the time and would not want to put other members of their often over-stretched departments under pressure.
