Solicitors should have a scheme whereby they would offer their services free to deserving members of the public, according to Mr John Costello, a member of the council of the Law Society of Ireland.
Mr John MacMenamin, the chairman of the Bar Council, which represents barristers, has said that a year after its pro bono scheme was announced no case under it had yet been filed. But it was expected that some would be in the next law term.
In the current issue of the Law Society Gazette, Mr Costello writes that solicitors already work for no fees or reduced ones for people of limited means or for charitable organisations. But this has been on an ad-hoc basis.
"We are now one of the few common law countries without a properly organised pro bono programme for the solicitors' profession," he says.
It had been difficult to assess whether the informal pro bono work done by individual solicitors and firms had been channelled or targeted in the most effective ways, not only for the individuals concerned but also to address unmet legal needs, he said.
Areas where pro bono work might be appropriate include employment and social welfare appeals, assisting entrepreneurs and other community organisations, information on housing and landlord and tenant matters, providing access on environmental matters to concerned communities, public interest cases with a constitutional law or EU dimension, and talks to community and religious groups, schools etc.
Not only did the individuals and organisations concerned benefit from this in a number or ways, he said, but so did lawyers. It aided personal development, provided training, and had been shown in the US to improve staff morale and the image of the firm and profession.
No formal proposal to introduce such a scheme has yet come before the Law Society but it is expected it will, according to Mr Ken Murphy, director general of the society.
He stressed that in any case a lot of work was already done on a pro bono basis by solicitors. He also pointed out that there was no civil legal aid scheme in the State, something which was the norm in almost every other developed country.
Mr MacMenamin said that following the announcement of the Bar Council's pro bono scheme a huge number of applications were received by the council. However, the majority of them came from people seeking the reopening of cases which had already been heard by the courts in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s. These were ineligible.
The council was in the process of making a final adjudication on the eligibility of a number of cases, and he expected papers for four or five of them to be filed by the end of the year.
Referring to the proposal for a Law Society scheme, he said: "I would really welcome it. It would assist us, and I would be glad to speak to any solicitor who would be interested in participating in such a scheme."
He stressed the importance of pro bono work for the public at large.
"It brings test cases to court to assist people. One example is the case on the right to education for autistic children, which led to Mr Justice Peter Kelly directing the State to provide appropriate educational services for children in such a situation."