PRO BONO
PBSO

The Pro Bono Services Office of the Law Society of Singapore (Charity Registration No. T07CC2064L) and approved Institution of a Public Character (IPC Registration No. IPC 000571) was established on 10 September 2007 with the mission to help bring free legal assistance to those in need in our community, as part of the Law Society's stated mission – to ensure access to justice for all. 

The Pro Bono Services Office was corporatized on 1 April 2017 and commenced operations as Law Society Pro Bono Services (UEN: 201700430E), a registered charity and Institution of a Public Character (IPC) incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee.

The corporatisation of the Pro Bono Services Office marked a grand coming of age of the department of the Law Society which grew from a staff strength of 7 to close to 30 in 2017.  The range of initiatives and activities undertaken had grown considerably over the years with over 10,000 underprivileged individuals receiving legal advice and aid annually, with the support of 2,000 volunteer lawyers across different specialisations. 

By rationalizing and streamlining operations to further enhance and strengthen the Law Society’s stated mission – to ensure access to justice for all, this corporatisation serves to:

1. consolidate and rationalize oversight and coordination of the Law Society's access-to-justice initiatives;

2. enhance governance, transparency and accountability on how donor funds are utilised; 
   

3. further build on the foundation and organizational structure to support the long term strategic impact, growth and sustainability of the Law Society's access-to-justice imperative.   
   
   

We run a wide range of programmes and activities that can largely be categorised under:

1. Law Awareness initiatives such as talks, publications and partnerships with organisations for their members and beneficiaries
2. Free Legal Clinics for qualifying applicants that run Mondays to Thursdays at the Central, North West, South East and South West Community Development Councils (CDCs); as well as Community, Criminal,  Workers, Family and Civil clinics at the Community Justice Centre (CJC)
3. Representation for qualifying applicants under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS)
4. Help for Non-Profit Organisations and Social Enterprises that start with legal clinics and go onto transactional help where necessary.