The LawWorks Pro Bono Awards, sponsored by LexisNexis, will take place at The Law Society on Wednesday 3rd December 2025.
This guidance contains additional information to help you make a nomination.
Contents
How to nominate
Any firm, in-house team, organisation, clinic or individual can nominate someone or themselves for one or more of the award categories listed below. If you would like to make a nomination for more than one category, please complete a separate form for each nomination.
Nominations must be submitted no later than 11:59pm on Monday 29th September 2025.
For all award categories, except the Pro Bono Connect Award, nominees need to be a member of LawWorks as of close of business on 29th September 2024 to be eligible. Unless otherwise stated in the ‘Award Categories’ section below, the pro bono work does not have to be delivered through a LawWorks project, programme or by a clinic in the LawWorks Clinic Network.
To make a nomination please complete the nomination form on the LawWorks website.
Awards categories
- Best Contribution by a Small or Medium Firm
This award is for pro bono work undertaken by a sole practitioner, or a firm with less than 300 fee earners.
- Best Contribution by a Large Firm
This award is for pro bono work undertaken by a firm with 301+ fee earners.
- Best Contribution by an In-house Team or an In-house Solicitor
This award recognises the legal pro bono work undertaken by an in-house team or in-house solicitor, based in England & Wales.
- Best Contribution by an Individual
This category includes pro bono coordinators and volunteer/pro bono lawyers (in sole practice, firms and in-house teams), as well as senior partners or general counsel who have championed pro bono legal work in a firm or an in-house team.
- The Best Contribution by a Junior Lawyer
The Best Contribution by a Junior Lawyer Award recognises the pro bono work undertaken by a trainee or qualified solicitor with less than 5 years post qualification experience (current students are not eligible for this award as there are separate awards for students through the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Awards).
- The LawWorks Cymru Award
This category recognises pro bono legal work undertaken in Wales by a LawWorks member firm, in-house team or clinic that is part of the LawWorks Clinics Network, or by a pro bono solicitor in a LawWorks member firm, in-house team or clinic. The judges may give additional weight where there is evidence of effective partnership working.
- Best Contribution by a Pro Bono Clinic
To be eligible the clinic must be registered with the LawWorks Clinics network and providing legal pro bono. The clinic must be run by or in partnership with a member of LawWorks, or where at least one LawWorks member is volunteering with the clinic.
- Best International Pro Bono Award - in partnership with A4ID
This category can include any pro bono project or activity delivered outside England and Wales, for beneficiaries outside England and Wales. Special attention will be given to pro bono projects that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
As LawWorks focuses on domestic pro bono, this is a special category that is awarded jointly with Advocates for International Development (A4ID), a global charity that works in partnership with the world’s leading law firms, providing access to the best legal advice for those engaged in the fight against global poverty. It is intended to recognise the cross jurisdictional work of members, many of which run a mixed portfolio of domestic and international pro bono projects.
- Best New Pro Bono Activity
This award recognises pro bono activity which commenced after 1st October 2024. The judges will give weight to any innovative aspects of the project or activity.
- Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership
This category can include in-house teams and law firms or individuals working in partnership with clinics, charities and not-for-profit organisations, advice agencies or others.
Additional weight will be given to partnerships which are innovative and/or creative, including (for example) consultation with potential beneficiaries on identifying need or project design.
A nomination can be made for this category if the partnership includes a firm, organisation or individual who is not a member of LawWorks, so long as at least one member of LawWorks is included.
- Best Contribution to LawWorks Not-For-Profits Programme
This award celebrates outstanding pro bono contributions made through the LawWorks Not-for-Profits Programme. Nominations are open to LawWorks members (who can nominate themselves as an organisation, an individual solicitor or a team of solicitors) who have provided pro bono legal support brokered via the Not-for-Profits Programme. This category can include pro bono legal advice delivered to non-profits referred via the Not-for-Profits Programme and/or contributions made to the Programme more broadly, such as delivering training for non-profits or contributing to research projects.
- Best Contribution to LawWorks Secondary Specialisation Programme
This award celebrates outstanding contribution by a firm or in-house team to deliver positive outcomes in the specific under resourced areas of social welfare law: employment appeal tribunals or families and carers of children with life-limiting and other serious conditions, delivered as part of the LawWorks Secondary Specialisation Programme.
- The Pro Bono Connect Award
The Pro Bono Connect Award recognises engagement and collaboration, and celebrates outcomes from pro bono work conducted by solicitors through Pro Bono Connect. This award seeks to celebrate commitment to pro bono both by partners and juniors in a team, a willingness to get involved, and for quality of work and good client or barrister feedback. Nominations are encouraged from Pro Bono Connect champions - firms, team of solicitors, or individual solicitors.
Criteria for nominations
To be eligible, nominees must meet the following requirements
- Except for the ‘The Pro Bono Connect’ category, nominees must be a member of LawWorks (as of 29th September 2025); for the ‘Best Contribution by a Pro Bono Clinic’, ‘Best Contribution to LawWorks Not-for-Profits Programme’ and ‘Best New Pro Bono Activity’ categories, a clinic registered with the LawWorks Clinics Network can also nominate or be nominated. Membership of LawWorks includes the partners, associates, trainees, and employees of a LawWorks member organisation.
- Except for the ‘Best International Pro Bono Award’, the legal pro bono work must be undertaken for individuals and/or organisations or communities in England and Wales (please note that this is not restricted to participation in a LawWorks project or programme). For the 'Best International Pro Bono Award', we do require that at least one England and Wales lawyer has been involved in the pro bono work (that might, for example, include a pro bono co-ordinator in the relevant firm).
- To be eligible for the Best Contribution to LawWorks Not-For-Profits Programme award, the LawWorks member must have participated in the Not-for-Profits Programme in 2025. This can include providing pro bono legal advice to a not-for-profit organisation referred to them by LawWorks, and /or contributions made to the Not-for-Profits Programme more broadly, such as delivering training for non-profits or contributing to research projects.
- To be eligible for the Best Contribution to LawWorks Secondary Specialisation Programme award, the LawWorks member must have participated in the programme in 2025 by providing pro bono legal advice on case referred to them by LawWorks.
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To be eligible for the Pro Bono Connect Award the nominee(s) do not have to be members of LawWorks but must have either participated in the Pro Bono Connect scheme, providing pro bono legal advice in connection with a case referred to them by Pro Bono Connect since 1st July 2024; or undertaken work to develop and champion the scheme within their organisation since 1st July 2024.
- Nominations should include evidence of benefit and impact(s). This can include:
- A description of the pro bono activity undertaken – e.g.:
- the identified need or the presenting problem(s)
- the intended beneficiaries or clients
- the nature or type of legal work or advice given and/or action taken
- the outcomes or impact(s) achieved
- improvements for individuals or local communities, such as the number of people who have benefited from the pro bono legal work
- A supporting statement(s) – if possible - from a beneficiary or a partner/stakeholder.
If there is any information submitted which you do not wish to see included in a summary in the published awards brochure or would like to approve before inclusion, please mark this clearly on your nomination form.
All nominations will be judged by an independent shortlisting and judging panel, whose decision will be final.
Judging and awards ceremony
Shortlisted nominees will be notified as soon as possible in advance of the Awards ceremony held on Wednesday 3rd December.
The judging panel will be announced shortly.
Contact us
If you have a question about the awards, please contact either:
- Sharon Batchelor, Fundraising and Events Officer
- Shivani Clancy, Communications Officer
We look forward to receiving your nominations!
Last updated 28/7/2025