Most importantly for volunteers, pro bono provides you with a wealth of personal benefits. You gain new skills and get to practice the ones that you already have, usually by working on real-life problems. You get to meet new people and experience new situations and every placement gives you something more to add to your cv. When hundreds of candidates are applying for every training contract or pupillage, the more you have to offer in terms of practical skills and experience the more chance you have of getting your foot in the door for an initial interview.

“Our former interns have gone on to successful careers in the City, in chambers and in
other illustrious careers – the Criminal Cases Review Commission, Sarajevo war crimes tribunals
and paid US capital defence work to name but a few. Every intern who we speak to says
how much they benefited from their US placement both in terms of skills and experience ” Amicus

The charities and organisations also benefit from your involvement – getting tasks completed more efficiently, undertaking projects that they might not otherwise have the manpower to carry out and being able to help more people.