PRO BONO IN THE NEWS: June to July 2017

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

Pro Bono: Protecting People’s Rights
26 July – Generosity Magazine
A Q&A with Leanne Ho of Colin Biggers & Paisley, covering the firm’s Foundation and with a focus on the why and how of pro bono at CBP.

Migrant justice service under threat
19 July – The Courier
WEstjustice recovered $27,500 for an exploited Filipino couple but described migrant exploitation in Victoria as “systemic”. The CLC has launched a campaign for federal funding.

Townsville LawRight prevents injustice
Community Legal Centres Queensland
LawRight in Townsville successfully helped family violence survivor Beth with her QCAT hearing.

Lawyers launch action plan for reconciliation in Queensland
7 July 2017 – Lawyers Weekly
This week the Queensland Law Society (QLS) has unveiled an action plan that it hopes will “model unity and respect between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians”. The reconciliation action plan (RAP) will primarily look at the overrepresentation of First Nations Peoples in the justice system and their underrepresentation in the profession.

Time for retirement living to meet the fairness test
5 July 2017 – Sydney Morning Herald
In Australia, retirement housing is a mess. If you’re considering the lifestyle promised by the operators of retirement housing, what you’ll soon encounter is needlessly complex contracts and legal arrangements that even lawyers have trouble understanding.

Firm’s pro bono arm wins for transgender woman in far-reaching UN case
26 June 2017 – Australasian Lawyer
DLA Piper has won for an Australian transgender woman in a case before the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) that found Australia in breach of its human rights obligations.

INTERNATIONAL

UK: Underfunded and overstretched: the lawyers seeking justice for Grenfell
24 July 2017 – The Guardian
The history and experience of North Kensington Law Centre – located literally in the shadow of Grenfell Tower – illuminates the ups and downs of legal assistance in the UK and how the Grenfell fire galvanised the legal profession. See the article in this issue for our summary.

US: Goodbye Guild– Law’s Changing Culture
3 July 2017 – Forbes
On the theme of corporate in-house lawyers, this Forbes article argues that the growth of in-house teams represents consumer power gaining strength against the legal profession’s traditionally insular and firm-based culture, and that this is reshaping legal culture. From the second half of page 2.

US: The Richest Law Firms Do More Pro Bono
1 July 2017 – American Lawyer
Research has found that the richest law firms – and the busiest lawyers – achieve the most pro bono hours.

UK: Legal aid cuts ‘may have stopped Grenfell tenants pursuing safety concerns’
29 June – The Guardian
Cuts to legal aid may have stopped tenants in Grenfell Tower from pursuing safety concerns that could have prevented the fire, the president of the Law Society, Robert Bourns, has suggested.

US: WVU Law graduate Reid uses record-setting pro bono hours to gain experience
21 June 2017 – West Virginia Record
Clayton “C.J.” Reid graduated from West Virginia University College of Law in May after amassing a school record-setting 840 hours of pro bono work during his tenure as a law student.

US/Jordan: Tortured and traumatised: Lawyer gives hope to Jordan’s most war-scarred refugees
20 June 2017 – Thomson Reuters Foundation
Jayne Fleming runs a mobile legal clinic offering free legal, psychological and social support to Jordan’s most vulnerable refugees from Syria, Iraq and Sudan