Afghanistan is a long way, in every sense, from the elegant rooms of barristers within the ancient Inns of Court and London’s legal square mile.

But for the past five years, barristers from a number of chambers have travelled out of their comfort zone for regular trips there for Access to Justice in Afghanistan, a Bar human rights committee project.

The 2008 team, including Mark Muller, QC, of Garden Court Chambers, Samantha Knights, of Matrix, Sudhanshu Swaroop, of 20 Essex Street, and Naina Patel, of Blackstone, saw the completion of the project this year.

Risking the obvious dangers of working in such terrain, they provided training for lawyers, academics, NGOs and students and sourced, bought and distributed 10,000 legal textbooks in local languages as well as Arabic and English. They set up training workshops in Kabul on discrimination, rape and other violence against women and the rule of law — and many Afghan judges and lawyers travelled from across the country to hear them.

The work, all done without charge but with the help of £250,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, involved the barristers undergoing four days of hostile environment training in Hampshire with former army instructors on how to deal with dangers including attacks, exploding devices and kidnappings.

The work was nominated for this year’s Bar Pro Bono Award by the barristers’ four chambers. “The long-term benefits of the books and training, the quality of the relationships established with local organisations, as well as the development of a successful model for providing resources in local languages,” the chambers said, “are all part of this project’s success. The achievement resulted from considerable hard work, dedication and expertise.”

The team took first prize, with the runner-up places going to John Cooper, of 25 Bedford Row, who was nominated by relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and in the UK for his pro bono help to them (cases included the Deepcut Barracks inquiry and the Hercules inquest); and to James Clifford, of Maitland Chambers, nominated by the Free Representation Unit where he has worked generously pro bono.

The awards are among many this National Pro Bono Week in which lawyers, for a change, are celebrated rather than denigrated — and for work done without charge rather than where they reap a fat fee. Today Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Attorney-General, holds a reception at the House of Commons to laud the work of pro bono heroes throughout the country — a reception that kicks off more than 70 events across the UK.

National Pro Bono Week, sponsored by the Law Society, Bar Council and Institute of Legal Executives, is in its seventh year. But this year it seems finally to have acquired its own huge momentum, according to Michael Napier, the AG’s pro bono envoy, and is spreading rapidly to the rest of Europe.

One reason is that Baroness Scotland and her predecessor, Lord Goldsmith, put their ministerial weight behind the venture. Despite its relatively new profile (compared with the United States), pro bono work is a “time-honoured tradition of the legal profession” and “something I hold very dear”, the AG said. The work, which could be life-changing for those who are helped (as well as those doing the helping), often went unsung, she added. It involved “individuals who quietly give up their time and expertise, both here and abroad, to make justice happen for people for whom justice may otherwise be denied”.

Her and Lord Goldsmith’s backing, coupled with that of the three legal professional bodies, put pro bono on the map. It generated media coverage and in turn attracted more lawyers into the pool. Now law firms almost vie for recognition for their pro bono activities that are seen as mainstream, not optional extras.

Yesterday Sir Igor Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, opened his court for a mock trial on the theme of gun and knife crime involving a jury of disadvantaged youth from the Behaviour Support Service Resource Base in Camden, North London. The advocacy was undertaken by students from BPP Law School’s pro bono centre and will be repeated through the week to different groups of young people — some of whom have had their own experiences of the law, from the wrong side.

Other events have or will include a celebration of 30 years of pro bono advice from the Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau; the launch of a personal support unit branch in Manchester’s new civil justice complex; marketplace “surgeries” to give people legal advice; the opening of a College of Law legal advice clinic; and events about the legal support given to death row cases overseas. Full details: www.probonouk.net.

Safora Syed, a barrister at Warwick House Chambers, is one of those who has helped on death row through an organisation called Amicus, which works on the cases with US attorneys — some of whom are in the UK this week.

On the European front, the Public Interest Law Institute, a human rights body, recently held its second annual European Pro Bono Forum attracting more than 150 lawyers, NGOs and academics. Edwin Rekosh, its founder and executive director, says that the transition from state socialism in Central and Eastern Europe has created a need for the promotion of law and legal services.

With this year’s theme of public awareness and legal education or “streetlaw”, Baroness Scotland has also launched a database of international pro bono projects and a best practice guide for such work abroad. The International Bar Association has launched a pro bono website (www.ibanet.org). Finally, there was the Access to Justice Foundation announced last month.

What of the City? Pro bono is big in corporate law firms — as it should be, with their wealth of resources and facilities. Linklaters launched a Global Pro Bono Report to highlight its many projects such as helping primary school children in Hackney, north east London, with numeracy skills.

Allen & Overy is celebrating its work with Battersea Law Centre where 10,000 clients have been helped; 200 of the firm’s staff see more than 700 clients a year and four trainee lawyers seconded by the firm see a further 1,200 clients. In all, the firm has given 27,000 hours of time. Time is money — in the case of A&O, worth almost £6 million.

The firm has also signed a partnership agreement with Bethnal Green Technology College, with the firm helping the school across several fronts from HR advice to coaching; work placements to lessons on civil rights and law. Another project includes its research across 11 countries on child trafficking for the charity Missing Children Europe.

Clifford Chance, meanwhile, has launched a weekly advice session on the Isle of Dogs — where local residents can access free advice from lawyers from the world’s biggest law firm in consumer and employment law. The firm runs five free advice sessions every week in East and South London, more than any other law firm, involving more than 200 of its lawyers each year.

As a measure of this commitment, Clifford Chance provided 72,000 hours of lawyer time to community and pro bon projects globally, worth more than £18 million — as well as giving £1 million to charity in donations and sponsorship.

Cynics may point to the need for such firms to prove their pro bono credentials to clients who increasingly take that into account when choosing a firm; or to students who likewise may pick a firm for its pro bono record. And, of course, there is the public relations upside of such work.

Whatever the motive, experience shows that even if these are all driving factors, firms become wedded to the work for its own sake. And anyway, some argue that motive is irrelevant: what matters is that the work is done. And it is: pro bono, it seems, has finally taken off in the UK. Perhaps this is one week when lawyers can collectively pat themselves on the back.

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