As law firms come under pressure to increase their pro bono offering, A&O's Angeline Welsh outlines how pro bono can enhance lawyers' fee-earning work

I was recently honoured to receive the International Bar Association (IBA) annual Pro Bono and Access to Justice Committee Award and was asked by the IBA to provide my pro bono biography. Most lawyers I should imagine do not have a pro bono biography; pro bono work is often undertaken ad hoc. I was no exception.

When putting this together, I was genuinely surprised by the large number of pro bono projects I have been involved with over my nine years at Allen & Overy (A&O). There has been no great plan behind this. My pro bono commitments have been rather opportunistic in a sense.