PILA: What Can Pro Bono Do for Your NGO?
What Can Pro Bono Do for Your NGO?
PILA (The Public Interest Law Alliance) are delighted to invite NGOs, charities, and other civil society organisations to attend What Can Pro Bono Do for Your NGO?
At this free in-person event on Monday, 9 June, leading pro bono lawyers will explain how your organisation can benefit from free legal assistance!
Who should attend?
This event is open to NGOs regardless of whether they have engaged with PILA or accessed pro bono support before.
We encourage NGOs who would like an introduction to PILA and pro bono to attend. This includes NGOs who are unsure of what their legal needs are or what type of legal support they may need.
We also encourage you to share the details of this event with your networks and other NGOs who may benefit from it.
What will you learn?
- How to access pro bono legal services as a charity, NGO or civil society organisation.
- How PILA and its Pro Bono Referral Scheme work and how it can assist your NGO.
- The types of legal assistance pro bono lawyers can provide NGOs and the types of issues and areas they can deal with.
- How long it takes to get pro bono assistance and how long projects may take.
- The best ways to approach a pro bono partnership.
- The challenges which may be encountered in a pro bono partnership and how to address them.
- Examples of successful long-term collaborations between NGOs and pro bono lawyers.
Our speakers will be able to answer your questions on the day during the Q&A segment.
- When? Monday 9 June 2025, 10 am – 11 am
- Where? 85/86 Dorset Street Upper, Dublin 1
- Any Questions? Email pila@flac.ie
Registration: CLICK HERE
Meet the Pro Bono professionals who will be speaking on the day…
Assumpta O’Connell, Senior Associate, McCann FitzGerald
Assumpta O’Connell is a Senior Associate, having worked in McCann FitzGerald for almost 20 years. She currently manages McCann FitzGerald’s pro bono practice, which provides access to free legal advice for vulnerable individuals and free legal support to help strengthen small charities, nonprofits, and social enterprises. Assumpta is committed to building McCann FitzGerald’s pro bono practice and scaling its impact.
Carolann Minnock, Of Counsel Pro Bono, Arthur Cox
Carolann leads the pro bono practice at Arthur Cox and is responsible for the strategic development and oversight of pro bono. As a practising solicitor, Carolann advises on immigration law matters. She has extensive experience developing and managing pro bono initiatives, bringing over 10 years of international rule of law experience to the role. The Arthur Cox pro bono practice provides legal advice and representation to individuals, not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises that could not otherwise afford it. Carolann develops impactful pro bono projects bringing together lawyers from across the firm to represent pro bono clients in areas such as access to justice, employment and immigration law. She contributes to the continued development of the pro bono sector in Ireland and is a steering committee member of Pro Bono Pledge Ireland, European Pro Bono Initiative and Dublin Solicitors Bar Association Human Rights Committee.
David Leonard, Barrister-at-Law, The Bar of Ireland
David has practised at the Irish Bar since 2005, specialising in public, administrative, regulatory and constitutional law, judicial review, and EU matters. He is an elected member of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for Ireland and its Editorial Committee, and was nominated by the Bar Council to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority review committee. David’s commitment to access to justice is reflected in extensive pro bono work, including through PILA. With Community Law & Mediation, he co-drafted proposed amendments to the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009 so that vacant “Fair Deal” houses could be used by Approved Housing Bodies as transitional accommodation for people facing homelessness. Through the Bar Council’s Voluntary Assistance Scheme he has delivered pro bono opinions to
charities, including an alternative-education centre for teenagers. He has advised the Irish Refugee Council pro bono on asylum matters, and assisted Mercy Law Resource Centre on housing and welfare issues. For SPIRASI, the national centre for survivors of torture, he delivered medico-legal training and has advised on novel legal questions. David is a founding signatory of Pro Bono Pledge Ireland
Jack Gibson, Lawyer Pro Bono, A&L Goodbody
Jack Gibson is A&L Goodbody’s Pro Bono Lawyer, practicing full-time in the firm’s Pro Bono Department. Jack represents clients before the International Protection Office and maintains an administrative law practice in the area of housing rights. Jack also develops and delivers legal education programmes to empower individuals and families, and the organisations that support them, to better understand the law and legal system, and realise their rights. Jack also works with civil society organisations and social enterprises assisting them in identifying their legal needs and accessing pro bono advice to further their aims.
