Pro bono work gives me purpose as a lawyer

It’s hard to describe the stillness in the office when you’re a corporate lawyer sitting at your desk late at night. The disappointments, stresses and scoldings of the day mingle with the relief and grim satisfaction of finally delivering results for clients, and the whole thing bears down on you until you gather what’s left of yourself and leave for the day – on time, ideally.

But there are some days when you simply can’t. And on those late nights, surrounded by random creaky pipe sounds, the glug of the water cooler and the dry hum of the air-conditioning, you rethink your life choices.

There is an intermingling of morbid pride at being able to withstand the pressures of lawyer life, but also despair at the thought of the fun things you could be doing. Layered over this is shame at not being more proactive about living your life in the manner of an artfully shot Instagram reel.

It was on one of those morose evenings in 2013 that I found myself in the office, poring over a sheaf of documents. 

I had just rejoined legal practice after taking a 10-month sabbatical. My old law firm offered me a promotion to return, and I took it as a sign that perhaps it was my calling after all. But it didn’t take long for work to ramp up. 

Much has been said recently about the state of the legal profession. The Legal Profession Sustainability Study, commissioned by the Law Society of Singapore, paints a grim picture, suggesting that lawyers are leaving the profession because of toxic bosses, long hours, punishing deadlines and pressures from the courts. 

But during my sabbatical, I was introduced to the world of legal pro bono work, where lawyers offer free services to marginalised and underprivileged communities, and community-serving organisations such as social enterprises and charities. 

It has been an unexpected anchor in my legal career. 

Getting into pro bono work

During my sabbatical, I was volunteering with a legal non-profit in Laos when I met the head of the then Law Society Pro Bono Office, Tanguy Lim. He offered me a job and, for a brief stint, I worked in the Pro Bono Office – now known as Pro Bono SG – as its director of community relations. 

There was nothing really wrong with my career in a big law firm prior to this. However, while client work could be intellectually fascinating, it could also be relentless. There were times when the long hours and commercial pressures made me wonder what exactly I was working towards, outside the decent pay cheque.

I wondered if that would be the job I’d retire in – or if there was anything else I was missing out on. 

While working in the Pro Bono Office, however, I had the opportunity to think through new initiatives to provide better access to justice for the wider community in Singapore. 

In those early days, we thought about things like how to assist migrant workers and foreign spouses of Singapore citizens who would otherwise fall through the cracks of the legal system. We looked at raising awareness about legal issues among schoolchildren, and how to approach partners who could assist with fund raising. 

It was difficult and tiring work, but hugely fascinating and fulfilling. 

We were very understaffed because it was difficult to attract talent, and the workload was increasingly pressing for a small team. Of course, things have changed and the office has much better support now. But back then, I lasted a grand total of five months before deciding I had unfinished business as a legal practitioner. Much as I believed in the mission, I realised that I wasn’t quite ready to give up practising law itself.

So, I returned to private practice, but kept a toe in the world of pro bono, continuing to volunteer on some of the projects I had worked on previously because they meant so much to me.

And that was what I was doing that night in the office back in 2013. It wasn’t client work, but a review of what would eventually become Legalese, a publication produced by the Pro Bono Office. 

It was to be its first volunteer-produced guidebook for social enterprises, providing clear and simplified legal guidance to help them strengthen their corporate governance and avoid common legal pitfalls. 

From purpose to joy

Make no mistake. I was certainly not feeling joyful that night in the office. 

Content production for pro bono purposes undoubtedly improves access to justice, but there are no dramatic courtroom victories, no stirring speeches and no vulnerable individuals standing before a judge. There is little public visibility. There are simply stacks of paper to review or endless screens to scroll through.

And yes, pro bono work is still work. The same standards of professionalism apply to it as to any other matter handled by a practising lawyer. When I was reviewing that draft, I was exhausted, stressed and slightly depressed after yet another evening trapped in the office.

But what the work did bring me was a sense of usefulness and purpose. No one would ever notice it, but perhaps the draft I was working on would help social enterprises complete their tax filings correctly and avoid penalties. Or perhaps it would help them avoid an expensive legal dispute with a supplier. 

Those small savings would ultimately allow good organisations to devote more resources to their core work, and I would have played a very small part in making that possible.

It wasn’t glamorous work. Indeed, I am not even sure if I have by now, dear reader, lost you entirely in this reflection on “finding joy”. 

But it left me with something infinitely more meaningful than joy, and that is a sense of purpose and fulfilment. It is hardly a new idea that the meaning of life lies not in the endless pursuit of happiness, but in the contentment that comes from living a life that is useful to others.

Pro bono work reminds me that the law can still be used in a very direct and human way. That sense of purpose helps counter the frustrations many lawyers have clearly been feeling, too. 

It may seem counterintuitive to suggest taking on even more work commitments when so many lawyers already feel stretched, but strangely, I found that those few hours spent helping someone else often left me feeling more energised. It certainly changed the way I thought about my career and values. 

Spoiler alert: I would go on to leave and return to legal practice one more time, but my commitment to pro bono work remains the one constant in my working life. 

The third edition of the guidebook I worked on came out this year. At the launch, I found myself unexpectedly close to tears. It seemed a strange thing to cry happy tears over, but cry I did, at the outpouring of support from people who had relied on our little publication and continued to do so over the years. 

Only then did I realise that purpose has a way of ripening into joy. And after years of patient work, joy had finally arrived.

Usha Chandradas is a consultant at international law firm Withers KhattarWong LLP and a board member of Pro Bono SG.

Finding Joy is an Opinion series about the things that bring us satisfaction, fulfilment and meaning. If you have a submission, e-mail us at [email protected].

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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