Arthur Cox: Pro Bono Associate

Pro bono is one of the core pillars of the Arthur Cox Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programme. Arthur Cox defines pro bono work as the exercise of professional skills free of charge or for a substantially reduced fee for disadvantaged or marginalised people who cannot afford legal services; and/or certain non-profit, charitable or community organisations.

The Arthur Cox Partnership is committed to pro bono and has given a mandate to take the necessary steps to develop a market leading pro bono practice. The firm’s CSR policy encourages and promotes the pro bono culture within the firm and while participation in pro bono work is not mandatory, it is strongly encouraged.

In addition to taking on matters directly from clients on a pro bono basis, the firm works in partnership with domestic and international “clearing houses”, including the Public Interest Law Alliance, the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation and TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service. They match our expertise with specific legal needs in non-governmental organisations and community organisations and law centres. We also work closely with certain community facing partner organisations including Amicus: Fighting for Justice on Death Row; and the Immigrant Council of Ireland.

The firm’s pro-bono practice is closely aligned with the firm’s Charity Law Group, a cross- departmental group with particular experience handling queries from charities and not-for-profit clients. The Charity Law Group includes representatives from tax, company secretarial, trusts, property, litigation (in particular compliance and investigations aspects), M&A/commercial and banking.

The Role

Arthur Cox is seeking an Associate to manage the firm’s pro bono practice and act as co-ordinating fee earner in the Charity Law Group. This is ideally a full time role, however a less than full time working arrangement may be considered. This role will involve fee earning work as part of the Charity Law Group.

Specifically, this role will involve:

• Assisting in identifying opportunities for the firm to provide meaningful pro bono services, both through existing networks and new relationships.
• Helping to support, coordinate and deliver existing pro bono projects, including by assisting with administration of existing pro bono projects, including rota management and some supervisory casework.
• Assisting in the development and implementation of pro bono policies and management systems.
• Undertaking a pro bono cases load including assisting with, and supervising, legal research, litigation, advice and education.
• Assisting with the provision of the charity law advice aspects and coordinating input from the multi-disciplinary Charity Law Group team in providing advice to charity/ not-for-profit clients.
• Becoming familiar with the Charities Act, 2009, associated regulations, trust and investment law and the requirements of the Charities Regulatory Authority, Companies Registration Office and Revenue Commissioners.
• Working with members of the Charity Law Group to assist in screening for Charity Law issues in connection with pro bono projects.
• Screening pro bono opportunities, aligning pro bono requests with appropriate lawyers and escalating more complex requests.
• Raising awareness of pro bono, answering internal queries regarding pro bono activity, dealing with all initial interest and recruiting volunteers to appropriate projects and programmes.
• Assisting with monitoring and evaluation of pro bono projects.
• Organising and attending pro bono client and sector events.
• Maintaining and developing relationships with partner organisations, pro bono teams in other Irish and overseas law firms.
• Working closely with the Head of Pro Bono, the Charities Law Group and CSR Advisory Board on existing and future projects.
• Reporting on progress of the pro bono programme to the firm’s partners and CSR Advisory Board.

Skills and Attributes

• Minimum of 3 years PQE.
• Excellent organisational and management skills, including an ability to manage multiple workstreams and to prioritise tasks.
• Strong leadership capabilities, with the ability to ability to provide structure and direction to the development of the pro bono practice and Charity Law Group.
• Demonstrable ability to work well in teams and also take the initiative and work independently.
• Demonstrable ability to undertake excellent legal work with strong attention to detail.
• An understanding of the legal needs of people who are disadvantaged and organisations who assist them.
• Ideally experience of working in a commercial law firm.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience of or in the non-profit or pro bono sectors desirable but not essential.
• Knowledge of charity law desirable but not essential.

Please apply with your CV at careers@arthurcox.com