Getting the most out of Pro Bono work

I have set out below some of the top tips that came out of my participation in a Live Q&A on The Guardian website earlier this year. The Q&A followed an article by Liza Ramrayka in which she wrote that tighter budgets are forcing charities and their partners to take a more business-like approach to pro bono. Given the climate of cuts and austerity at the moment it is even more important for charities to develop partnerships with providers of pro bono services. At the same time, those same pro bono providers are also keen to show their fee paying clients that they are responsible corporates and to maximise the impact that their pro bono work has. Now is therefore an excellent time for charities to get the most out of pro bono work.

My experience of pro bono work comes through the international law firm that I work for. We have an ever developing and committed pro bono programme, but we do think carefully before deciding to take on any request for assistance. This is a good thing as it shows that we treat pro bono clients in just the same way as our fee-paying clients. Most large law firms treat the hours a lawyer spends on pro bono in the same way as they treat billable hours and they normally recognise those hours in annual evaluations. We would formalise our relationship with a pro bono client by entering into an engagement letter. It is worth discussing up front with your advisers what your deadlines are and how much time the matter is likely to take. I would recommend contacting professional advisers in advance of when you want your piece of work completed, given that they are all busy people.

Instead of reaching out to a professional adviser as and when a problem arises, charities could also consider having a more formal relationship. The NSPCC has led the way with this by being the first charity in the UK to establish its own legal panel. Meaning that it has a number of law firms that it can turn to for legal advice. This is an example of pro bono relationships becoming much more formalised rather than simply ad hoc. It may be that law firms will go down the route of having one or two major tie ups with their pro bono clients (rather than a series of ad hoc relationships), which means that charities should be thinking now about building relationships with the big firms in case they miss out.

Another major area of change in the pro bono world is the concept of "client teaming". The idea is that a big law firm will team up with in-house lawyers from one of its major corporate clients to do a piece of pro bono work for a charity. The law firm likes it because they get to know their client better, they get to do a worthwhile piece of work with a major client and let everyone know about it. The large corporate client likes it because they satisfy their corporate social responsibility, they help out a worthwhile cause and they deepen their relationship with their lawyers. It goes without saying that the charity likes it because they get the expertise of two legal teams working on their projects.

Despite the economic outlook I think that law firms are doing more pro bono work now. I think there is an increasing awareness amongst charities that there is help out there. Professional advisers like law firms place an increasing importance on Corporate Social Responsibility - and perhaps most crucially their clients demand it of them and expect them to have strong pro bono programmes. Young lawyers are keener than ever to do pro bono work - it is something that I see a lot of in the recruitment process - and that culture will in time work its way to the top.

Charities would be advised to remember that the relationship with a professional adviser is a two-way thing. Meaning that the charity cannot simply expect law firms to give them lots of free advice and not see anything in return. Charities should think about what they can offer to entice the top law firms, banks and accountants to want to give their time to help them free of charge. Charities should remember that advisers always like to know what impact their advice has had, what value it has given. So I would recommend that you follow up with the advisers that helped you and let them know how the matter they helped with has (hopefully) improved things. It is frustrating when you work on a project and then you never hear anything else about it.

So what is the take-away from all this. Basically, that it is worth spending a bit of time developing a good relationship between charity and adviser, as in the long run everyone concerned benefits from it - and none more so than the people that the charities are there to help.

Work travel - the good and the bad bits

A colleague once said to me that he did not like work travel because it means the same amount of work (if not more) and then you have the travel on top. Certainly saying that you are going to New York, Milan or Paris on business sounds very glamorous, but is it really when you may see no more than the inside of taxis, offices and your hotel room? In fact it can be very frustrating to be in a fantastic city - perhaps one that you know well from holidays or you have longed to visit - and not be able to enjoy the sites and the lifestyle. Your experience of a city is entirely different when you are in a work mindset. Popping out to a nice restaurant is never quite the same with the threat of a call or email calling you back to the office hanging over you. The ideal work trip would of course be one where you could mix work and pleasure! 

Travelling with work will usually bring with it your business class ticket, your business premier room in your smart hotel and your taxi travel. Again it sounds very glamorous - and you really do appreciate it if you have been working hard - but again it is not really the best way to get to know a place. One of the things I like about being on holiday is that you have time to wonder around a place and get lost (deliberately sometimes) and of not have to worry about a timetable or people trying to contact you. Doing the tourist bit is not so easily done when you are in your suit and you don't have long before the next meeting.

One plus of work travel is that you get time to read the papers - something that you very rarely have time to do during the working week. If you are on train or a plane then you have nice long run at the papers, which is great - so long as you can stay awake that is!

I love travel and l like going to new places, so I am a fan of work travel (and I don't mind having to work hard whilst away) but if I go to an exciting destination and don't get to see the sights and the smells of a place I do feel as if I have missed out somehow. On the whole it is nice to get a work trip but you hope you don't have to work too hard!

Amusing Acronyms

I learnt a new acronym yesterday. The parents have gone SKIing. Not immediately obvious is it! Well it means Spending the Kids Inheritance. Not the nicest of acronyms either so one to be used with care. It reminds me of some other amusing acronyms that I have heard over the years. One of my favourites is another that must be used with caution - SINBAD - meaning Single Income No Boyfriend And Desperate. Which immediately makes you think of another notable acronym that combines salary and marital status - DINKY - meaning Dual Income No Kids Yet.

There are other classics. YUPPIE must be my favourite late 1980s acronym. This one means Young Urban Professional or Young Upwardly Mobile Professional. If you can make your acronym sold like it is an actual word (when in reality it isn't) so much the better. My favourite of these is NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard.

It is not a new phenomenon either, soldiers in the Second World War made use of acronyms such as NORWICH - (K)nickers Off Ready When I Come Home - with the idea of making it through the sensor!

I am not even going to go into the wave of new Internet inspired acronyms. So TTFN.

#hashtags and status updates

If you are into Twitter (which I admit I think is a lot of fun and often very informative) you will know that almost every TV show now has its own hashtag. Tweeters, twitterers, twits (or whatever we are supposed to call them) will then comment on the show as it is broadcast. I find it interesting to see how people react to the particular show. This is particularly true when watching news shows such as Question Time and Newsnight, which pleasingly seem to have a huge following in the Twittersphere. Following the #bbcqt or #newsnight hashtags gives you an instant reaction to what is being discussed, which I think adds a really new dimension to current affairs. It is also great fun when at a live event. For example, at places such the Frontline Club, during the debates/talks you can tweet comments which are shown on a screen next to the panel (which when I first tried it I thought was great fun).

However, there is a danger with this new way of commenting on live events and that is that you become so obsessed with the coming up with the witty quip or the perfect put down, that you actually stop concentrating on the main event. I certainly have this problem (because I am male and find multi-tasking beyond me). I think we may find that when people meet up in the pub to discuss last night's TV shows (yes surely people still do that!) they may well all have been concentrating at different moments and have entirely different recollections of the programme!

I rather like hashtags, whereas I am still not entirely convinced by status updates. Quite frankly I am bored by people who write things like "just made a nice cup of tea" or "my train is running late". I feel uneasy with commuters who tell us how smelly the person they are sitting next to is. I find it amusing (and thus feel less sympathy) when people write things like "I am so busy I don't know where to start" or "I have so many things to do today it's not true". Well you can’t be that busy if you have had time to write the status update in the first place! I may be being harsh here but I do think that the status update panders to the attention seeker. Give me a good hashtag any day!

No Silly Season this August

This has not been a typical August so far. Normally at this time of year, with politicians and captains of business sunning themselves in Chiantishire and the South of France, the media are pretty short of stories. The skeleton staff left behind therefore have to find something to fill the newspapers and usually resort to such frivolous stories such as ladies putting cats in rubbish bins, footballers dyeing their hair or politicians defecting to rival parties.

Not so this summer. There has been the ongoing turmoil arising out of the sovereign debt crises in Europe and the effect that has had on the Eurozone. America has had similar problems with the markets following the loss of its triple A rating as a result of the standoff between Republicans and Democrats over agreeing to lift the national debt ceiling. The UK was shocked and outraged by the phone hacking scandal that has engulfed News International, where for a time new stories seemed to be uncovered on an hourly basis. And just as the Murdoch saga was calming down the riots in London have given us more to be shocked and outraged about. All in all anything but silly season, more like very serious season.

It seems an age ago now that the world was looking at Britain enviously as it celebrated the Royal Wedding at the end of April. Given the proximity to the Easter holidays, many of us took advantage and enjoyed an extra long holiday. Perhaps the natural order of things has been disturbed this year and we have already had our silly season?

The Power of Advertising

I like to think that I am reasonably immune to advertising, but the advertisers are getting cleverer in a way that may breach my defences. As I was having a quick peruse of Facebook over lunchtime I noticed an advert inviting me to sign up with a legal recruitment agency that specifically mentioned the firm that I currently work for. I believe this is an example of "ad-tech", the method by which internet sites are able to track all sorts of information about, your likes and dislikes, what you talk about with your contacts and then use that information to tailor advertising to you every time you are on their site. An example of this would be if someone announced they were engaged then they would start to see adverts for wedding planners.

This sort of thing has been going on for a while. If you buy a book through Amazon or Waterstones they then offer you books of a similar genre on subsequent visits to the site. That is probably acceptable to most people, indeed if you have a specialist area of interest then it is quite helpful. However, there is surely a line to be drawn and people will need to be careful about what they say and look at on sites such as Facebook. This does also beg a wider question of what else the social media sites will do with this information they have on you.

So yet another reason for the social media sceptics to steer clear of these sites. I remain a fan - I think these sites are a great way of keeping in touch with friends and contacts and also of staying up to date with the news - but you do need to be careful how you use them.

Clegg's tragedy

Mr Clegg must be kicking himself. Just imagine the field day he would be having if he was in opposition at the moment. On this issue the Lib Dems could genuinely claim to hold the high ground, given that both Labour and the Conservatives have paid homage to the court of Murdoch for years and they have not. All the plaudits which are now going to Ed Miliband could well have gone to Clegg. Just think how the Lib Dem opposition to the Iraq war gave them a real voice and a bounce in the polls.

Instead Mr Clegg is forced to defend the Prime Minister for something he and many others advised him against him doing - hiring Andy Coulson. Indeed all of the Lib Dem members of the government must feel in a pretty difficult position at the moment. It is interesting how Vince Cable has kept reasonably quiet - he must secretly be pleased with the lessening of Mr Murdoch's influence.

The tragedy for Clegg and the Lib Dems is that this is the type of situation where they would be at their most effective. Although, Mr Clegg is probably enjoying the fact that Mr Cameron is feeling the heat for once. For a lot of his time as Deputy Prime Minister, he has been taking the heat for the whole government, leaving Mr Cameron sitting pretty. That said, Mr Clegg must be hugely frustrated that he has to sit on his hands on this issue and remain loyal to his master.