Abstract

The desire to use established corporate law skill sets in the pro bono context has lead some lawyers to extend pro bono services to charitable and non-profit organisations. But does the provision of free legal services to well-funded organisations constitute pro bono work, and how can providers of pro bono legal services best prioritise among competing organisations? The author surveys various sources of formal and informal regulation in Singapore and selected Asian and other common law jurisdictions and suggests that when distinguishing between non-profit organisations with different levels of funding, a coherent guideline would evaluate whether the payment of legal fees would deplete economic resources to the extent of significantly impairing organisation programmes