Defence solicitor Aamer Anwar welcomes the idea of additional pro bono work being undertaken by solicitors, but warns that it masks the root cause of the need for increased funding

I welcome Elish's motivation in suggesting ten hours pro bono a year, but many solicitors already carry out thousands of hours pro bono with no expectation of fees or gratitude.

I am not sure whom she is suggesting take up this offer, maybe the big corporate firms who help very little when it comes to the wee man on the street, but in a time when we face massive cutbacks many criminal lawyers carry out work that will never be paid by the Legal Aid Board, but do so none the less, aware that if they did not, then clients who are often the most vulnerable in society as well as most scapegoated, will be left without help.

I do not think 10 hours a year will make much difference and will just simply be a plaster on what is already a gaping wound when it comes to legal funding.

Most cases in which we act pro bono take up sometimes hundreds of hours in a year, ten is likely to make little or no difference.

It is rather similar to the debate on Charity; many people wish to help, the problem is that it avoids providing a real solution or analysing why the Governments are absolving themselves of responsibility.

Aamer Anwar is a criminal defence solicitor