'Everyday’ Intelligence: Pro- Bono/ Volunteering- Why I Do What I Do

 

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‘’Jus Est Ars Boni Et Aequi ‘’

Law is the science of the good and the just.

Regardless of the fact that lawyers are nowadays often seen by many (including some Western governments, it would seem…) as ‘fat cats’, I firmly believe that the above is as true today as it was two thousand years ago.

People have often asked me why I’d chosen to do law; in fact, only recently, a colleague said I’d be better suited for a banker because I looked like someone who’d be highly successful in a cutthroat corporate environment.

Well, I chose law for several reasons:

• I enjoy it and that makes me good at it
• I am incredibly competitive and argumentative
• I like helping others; it makes feel useful and alive

 

I’m telling you all of that for a reason; bear with me.

The other day, I was talking to my brother who, unlike me, had never been a big fan of helping others than his good self.

I told him about this new pilot pro- bono initiative at the CAB which I was going to be involved in throughout the summer.

He then waited for my enthusiasm to subside and asked me, in the calmest and coolest manner possible:

‘So how much are they paying you for that then?’

‘Nothing’, I said. ‘That’s why it’s called pro- bono.’

‘But I thought you said that they chose you over the other applicants; I mean, surely’, my brother went on ‘if you are good at something (and, presumably, better than others), they should be paying you money to do it, right?’

To an extent, the (twenty-year-old) kid was right; after all, as he had once noted, it was sometimes very difficult to survive on nothing but others’ gratitude.

It’s not, he pointed out (in an unnecessarily sarcastic manner, I thought), as nutritious as, say, a rib- eye steak with roast potatoes.

Having said that thought, it must be borne in mind that the above applies only if you haven’t got your own means to buy the said steak; if you do, will it not make sense to help out those who can’t afford a steak on their own?

Leaving steaks alone for a moment and going back to law, with the coming of LASPO, more and more people are in need of free legal advice.

Why?

Quite simple, really; because they simply cannot afford it.

What I told my brother was, too, quite simple.

In reality, doing pro- bono work pays off because value is not always measured in money.

Put yourself in their shoes; you’d want to be helped out in your time of need, right?

Law is the science of the good and the just.

Do write that down, Mr Grayling; if you haven’t done so during your many years at law school, that is.

See what I did there?