Access to justice doesn't begin when someone seeks legal advice. It begins with understanding.
Pro Bono Week is a chance to celebrate the lawyers who use their skills to help people access justice. But justice depends on more than advice and representation once a problem has arisen. People also need to understand their rights, recognise when an issue is a legal one and know where to turn before it escalates.
That is the purpose of public legal education (PLE). It helps people understand how the law shapes everyday life, from housing and work to education and family, and gives them the confidence to act. PLE doesn't replace legal advice. Instead, it plays a preventative role that advice and representation can't fully fill.
That matters for the pro bono community. Lawyers will always be essential in resolving legal problems. But we can also reduce barriers to justice by helping people find their way through the law in the first place.
Our work in public legal education
Over recent years, Mishcon de Reya has invested in PLE through delivery, research, partnership and sector leadership.
We were a long-standing supporter of The Big Legal Lesson, Young Citizens' national campaign, which provides schools with free, curriculum-aligned resources and has so far reached more than 300,000 young people.
Building on that partnership, we are now supporting Young Citizens' new pilot, The Big Challenge, backed by the Attorney General's Office. The new regional immersive learning programme, running in Glasgow, Manchester and London this year, will test a more inclusive way of engaging young people with the law, their rights and the legal profession. At each day-long, hackathon-style event, hundreds of students aged 13 to 16 will work alongside volunteer lawyers to explore real-world rule of law issues, from regulating AI to human rights, and develop an action plan to take back to their schools. With a particular focus on students often missed by legal education, the pilot is testing a model that could become an annual national programme.
Our commitment goes beyond the classroom. In spring 2026, nine of our lawyers contributed to JUSTICE's comparative research on citizenship, legal and human rights education in other countries, which will inform its forthcoming work in this area.
The importance of this work is increasingly being recognised at a national level. In October 2026, JUSTICE submitted evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee's inquiry into the UK's constitutional safeguards. Its response identifies equal and early access to legal education as one of two areas representing risks and opportunities for the health of the UK's constitution. JUSTICE argues that children and young people are the future custodians of our constitutional democracy and that every child should have access to high-quality, engaging and relevant education about the law, their rights and the justice system. You can read the full submission here.
We have also worked to bring the sector together. In 2024, we hosted a roundtable for educators, charities, policymakers and the legal profession. Today, we co-chair the national PLE Committee's sub-group on children and young people.
A pivotal moment
PLE is now receiving serious national attention. In April 2026, the Attorney General's Office relaunched the Public Legal Education Committee and published national principles for the sector.
JUSTICE's recent submission reinforces why this matters. Its argument places legal education not simply within the access-to-justice agenda, but within the wider question of how we sustain the rule of law and constitutional democracy.
Significant challenges remain. Access to legal education is inconsistent and funding is often short term. The young people most likely to face serious legal problems are often the least likely to receive any legal education. Closing these gaps will take sustained collaboration between schools, charities, policymakers, funders and the legal profession.
This Pro Bono Week, it is worth remembering that the most effective help sometimes comes before a problem arises. By helping people recognise their rights and navigate the law confidently, PLE can prevent problems, empower communities and widen access to justice.
Public legal education isn't an add-on to pro bono. It is a vital part of it.