Below you can find articles of interest to the pro bono community that have been published since our last edition. Click through to read any news article in full.

You can also follow the latest news in pro bono from Australia and around the world by following the Centre on Twitter: @AusPBC.

AUSTRALIA

Podcast: Seeing law as a service to the community
Lawyers Weekly – 18 May 2018
With National Pro Bono Day having come and gone, Lawyers Weekly spoke with a prominent pro bono lawyer and human rights advocate about how law is, at its core, an altruistic profession in that it operates to serve the community around it.

Lifelong Bendigo friends chalk up 50 years as lawyers on the same day
Bendigo Advertiser– 18 May 2018
What did pro bono look like in the 60s and 70s? Some insight featured in this heartwarming piece on Tim Rogers and Ian Monotti, classmates at school and uni who have both celebrated 50 years of practice on the same day.

WA pro bono initiative to bridge the gap
Lawyers Weekly – 15 May 2018
On the Perth Walk for Justice and the important work of Law Access.

Tasmania’s first online chat service for accessing legal information
The Examiner – 12 May 2018
More than 400 people have already benefited from Tasmania’s first online service for accessing legal information.

Free legal advice for older Tasmanians
ABC News – 3 May 2018
Council on the Ageing Tasmania are working with Legal Aid to run free clinics on the first Thursday of every month for older Australians.

Victorian court no-shows: How it’s costing taxpayers millions
9 NEWS – 30 April 2018
A special 9 NEWS investigation has found shocking numbers of offenders failing to turn up at court are crippling Victoria’s justice system. The Victoria Legal Aid suggested that the court system should work on a public health model that prevents offending behaviour in the first place.

Corr’s collaboration to bolster law students with AI skills
Lawyers Weekly – 23 April 2018
Corrs Chambers Westgarth and the University of Western Australia has announced a new 12-week course called ‘Legal APPtitude’ where students will develop AI applications that will help provide legal services to disadvantaged and vulnerable people.

Vic Bar making strides in gender equality and diversity
Lawyers Weekly – 3 April 2018
44% of members of the Victorian Bar has done more than 20 hours of pro bono work since October 2017.

INTERNATIONAL

US: Kilpatrick Wins Asylum for Transgender Woman in Hard-Fought Pro Bono Case
Daily Report – 29 May 2018
Estrella Sanchez, a transgender immigrant has finally won asylum with the help of her pro bono lawyers from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. After denying Sanchez’s petition three times, U.S. Immigration Court Judge Dan Trimble granted Sanchez asylum three years after a Kilpatrick team first took on her case.

HK: Alarm at drop in legal aid for Hong Kong judicial review applications
South China Morning Post – 13 May 2018
Legal aid for judicial review applications has steeply declined with experts saying the trend is undermining the rule of law and access to justice in Hong Kong.

US: Use Pro Bono as a Playground for Innovation With These 4 Tech Tools
The Recorder – 4 May 2018
Pro bono practices are testing grounds for new technologies which can be later utilised by private practice.

US: ABA study finds time constraints hamper pro bono activities
The Indiana Lawyer – 2 May 2018
While an overwhelming majority of attorneys support pro bono work as a part of the legal profession, less than half indicated they were going to provide such help.

US: Journey through the Legal Profession
The Practice – May 2018
What attracted you to the firm you’re at now? Interesting reflections here from veteran lawyer James J Sandman on how pro bono was a big factor in why he started – and stayed on – at law firm Arnold & Porter. He’s now President of the Legal Services Corporation but spent 30 years at Arnold & Porter, where he championed pro bono.

US: Which lawyers spend the most time on pro bono? ABA surveyed 47,000 for the answer
ABA Journal – 26 April 2018
81% of US lawyers have done pro bono legal work at some point in their lives – but only half did any in 2016, and less than half felt it was likely they would do so in 2017. This and other interesting stats from the American Bar Association.

US: Koch Industries seeks rule-change for pro-bono work
Missouri Lawyers Weekly – 23 April 2018
Koch Industries is advocating for a reform to a Kansas law that forbids corporate in-house lawyers who are unlicensed in the state from providing free legal services.

US: How Making a Murderer is teaching US law students
BBC News – 6 April 2018
The University of Utah is now teaching law students about ethics, DNA and juvenile rights through the case covered by the Netflix series Making a Murderer.  It has reportedly inspired students to do more pro bono work.