PILS’ Pro Bono Register reaches 2026 Irish Law Awards final
The network of 120+ legal professionals on the PILS Pro Bono Register have been shortlisted for the 2026 LEAP Irish Law Awards in the ‘Pro Bono Publico’ category.
The winners will be announced on 12 June 2026 at a ceremony in Dublin.
Since 2011, PILS have coordinated our very own Pro Bono Register: an exceptional network of barristers, solicitors and legal academics who have agreed to provide pro bono legal assistance to PILS’ members.
As 2026 marks the 15th anniversary of when PILS first began this collaborative legal initiative, it is a timely moment to celebrate their collective contribution to increasing access to justice in Northern Ireland.
The resource that allows PILS’ small and mighty staff team to regularly connect our NGO and solicitor members with vital legal advice is the Pro Bono Register.
Over the course of the past 15 years, Pro Bono Register lawyers have played a vital role in ground-breaking legal action, creating significant impact for people across the north of Ireland.
Faced with the prospect of having a dormant fossil fuel plant expanded on the shores of Belfast Lough, the Stop Whitehead Oil Terminal campaign group successfully challenged the council’s planning decision in 2024, represented in court by pro bono lawyers. Local campaigners stop oil terminal plan in its tracks as Council forced to admit mistake – The PILS Project
The Social Security (Terminal Illness) Act came into effect in April 2022, a legislative change that came after years of campaigning to scrap the so-called ‘Six Month Rule’ by terminally ill people, their families, and multiple NGOs. In taking a judicial review Lorraine Cox, a Law Centre NI client who sadly passed away in July 2022, shone a spotlight on the reality of life for people with a terminal illness diagnosis. The Law Centre’s legal team received pro bono advice via PILS’ Pro Bono Register throughout Lorraine’s legal action. Lorraine Cox – The PILS Project
Backed by pro bono legal expertise, Strangford Integrated College successfully challenged then Education Minister Peter Weir’s refusal of its Development Proposal. In April 2021, the original decision was completely reversed and over 830 students are now on the school’s register. IEF and Strangford Sept 2021 Update – The PILS Project
PILS are proud to say that the Register is currently comprised of 120+ lawyers, including 87 barristers and 30 individual solicitors. Of the barristers, 20% of them have taken silk.
Of course, we recognise that there are undoubtedly more pro bono practitioners in NI than there are names on our Pro Bono Register list. We hope that the Irish Law Awards’ shortlisting of the Register (in a year of record numbers of ILA nominations) encourages all pro bono lawyers in this jurisdiction to continue pursuing justice.
Huge congratulations to all our fellow nominees: Connolly Finan Fleming Solicitors, Dog Law Ireland, Green & Associates, HOMS Assist, Imran Khurshid, Griffth College’s Innocence Project, Irish Women Lawyers Association, Ishaq Alam,M.M. Halleys and Son Solicitors, Mercy Law Resource Centre and the Voluntary Assistance Scheme. Comhghairdeas mór libh!