Bar pro bono charity rebrands with new name ‘Advocate’ and begins work on increasing accessibility

The Bar Pro Bono Unit has announced that it is undergoing a number of reforms to modernise its service for the 21^st Century and from today (22 October, the first day of Pro Bono Week) has changed its name to ‘Advocate’.

Advocate is a charity that relies on barristers who volunteer their time unpaid to provide legal help to people who cannot otherwise afford it. In addition to the rebrand, funding from the Legal Education Foundation has enabled Advocate to begin work on a new online portal that will make accessing services easier for both volunteer barristers and the public, with the portal expected to be up and running by the end of 2018.

Jess Campbell, chief executive of Advocate, said: “This rebrand will help make Advocate more accessible for those in need of legal assistance while celebrating the vital contribution volunteer barristers make to access to justice. Our previous name – which used legal Latin – was not user-friendly for most of the people coming to us for help.

 “Our research showed that the new name made people feel that ‘someone will speak up for them’. Barristers said it made it clear that it is their profession which provides free specialist legal advice, drafting and representation to the most vulnerable in our society. That has always been the charity’s ethos and it will only be strengthened with our new brand and name."

Andrew Walker QC, chair of the Bar, commented: “The Bar’s pro bono work makes a huge contribution to access to justice. It is vital that this work – and the Bar’s own organisation for facilitating it – is as accessible and visible as it can be to those who need it most. That aim is at the heart of this rebranding. The Bar will remain at the heart of Advocate’s work, and I hope that this and other developments in how Advocate operates will help to bring together yet more barristers and those who desperately need their services but cannot afford to pay.”