Advocate: Practicing Certificate Renew Portal Open

Please support access to justice through Advocate, the Bar’s pro bono charity

The last page of the practising certificate renewal form contains the important opportunity to donate to Advocate. Pro bono can and should never be a substitute for legal aid, but through Advocate, the profession provides a lifeline for many vulnerable applicants who desperately need help and cannot access legal services.

Support from barristers cannot be overstated and we know that practice managers and clerks are at the heart of this. If you can help us to keep the donation box ticked, please do!

Donations on renewal made up 41% of our income last year, with 43% of all barristers contributing. We received 17 requests for help every day in 2021 just for our core casework service. Our cases included assisting an asylum seeker suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, restoring registration for carers incorrectly accused of assault, and helping a seriously injured business owner to recover his IP rights and rebuild his business post lockdown.

“I do not know what I would have done without your assistance and I cannot thank you enough. The outcome of the case has completely changed my life.” Advocate applicant

In addition, we:

• Worked with two partnership programmes - one to help vulnerable people apply to the EU Settlement Scheme and another deploying immigration practitioners to provide advice to individuals at risk in Afghanistan and needing expert advice on access to the UK.
• Launched Collaborate, our mentoring scheme that pairs up senior volunteer barristers with juniors starting out in pro bono or taking a case in an unfamiliar area.

Why do we need your donation?

Our primary aim is to help the Bar to support more of the people who need its help. This year, your donations will enable us to:

• Develop our services and build relationships nationally with more of the Bar and other partner advice organisations.
• Grow the casework team so it can provide better support to barristers working on pro bono projects.

Advocate was created by the Bar and is sustained by the Bar. Please help Advocate work with barristers to provide life-changing assistance to those in need.