Australian Pro Bono Centre | The Centre becomes the “Australian Pro Bono Centre”

Issue 100: July 2015

The Centre becomes the “Australian Pro Bono Centre”

On 17 June 2015 the National Pro Bono Resource Centre officially changed its name to the Australian Pro Bono Centre. The Centre’s new name and visual identity were launched by the Centre’s Chair, Phillip Cornwell, at the Welcome Drinks to the 2015 National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference.

Our new name

The Centre has a proud thirteen year history of working to build the capacity of the Australian legal profession to provide pro bono legal services that are focused on increasing access to justice for socially disadvantaged and/or marginalised persons, and furthering the public interest. The Centre achieves this objective by sharing its expertise on pro bono in many ways – through forums such as this conference; its well-respected reports, practical guides and other publications, such as the Survey and the Australian Pro Bono Manual; innovative projects such as the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target and the National Pro Bono Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme; and working directly with firms and the community sector.

The role of the Centre in an international context continues to grow, particularly as law firms themselves are increasingly operating in an international context. The Centre’s resources and publications are now being used in other jurisdictions and the Centre’s input is consistently sought in international forums. As a result of this expanding international role it was decided that the Centre should change its name to the Australian Pro Bono Centre to make its identity more ‘outward looking’ and accessible from an international perspective. The shorter, catchier name will also assist in clarifying the Centre’s identity.

Importantly, the Centre’s key objectives will remain the same. The change of name is simply about making the Centre’s valuable work more accessible.

John Corker, Director of the Centre, at the unveiling of the Centre’s new identity

Our new visual identity

In addition to changing its name the Centre has also adopted an exciting new visual identity to communicate its focus on increased accessibility. The Centre’s new visual identity was very generously developed by Paul Garbett and his team at Garbett Design on a pro bono basis.

Garbett have created an elegant design, incorporating the “pillars of justice” (in black) and “equality” (in orange), both of which underpin the uniting features of the Centre’s diverse work – access to justice and furthering social justice.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul and the Garbett team for their hard work, skill, creative insights and the incredible result they have achieved. We are thrilled with the Centre’s new visual identity and look forward to using it to communicate our purpose for many, many years to come.

Phillip Cornwell, Chair of the Centre, previewing the Centre’s new website