This author has yet to write their bio.Meanwhile lets just say that we are proud AusPBC contributed a whooping 247 entries.
The ALRC Report Pathways to Justice – Inquiry into the Incarceration Rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders makes a series of recommendations on how to tackle what is a national disgrace. Lawyers who do pro bono work are motivated to further social justice and address unmet legal need. So what can we do?
The answer is: more than you might think.
National Pro Bono Day is just four short weeks away on Tuesday 15 May, the second Tuesday of Law Week. If you’re in Queensland, South Australia or Western Australia, get along to these Walks to raise funds for your state’s pro bono clearing house.
We spoke to expat Davyd Wong, Chair of the Hong Kong Conference Local Organising Committee and in-house counsel at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, about pro bono in Hong Kong and this year’s Asia Pro Bono Conference.
The Good360 platform allows CLCs to obtain thousands of dollars’ worth of goods for their clients and operations. All they need is a $500 sponsorship. Can your law firm or company sponsor one of these eight CLCs that are still hoping for a corporate sponsor?
Corporate, government and volunteer lawyers performed 1,375 hours of pro bono legal work under the Centre’s National PI Insurance Scheme in the second half of 2017. The hours were performed by 108 lawyers and 8 paralegals involved in 72 projects. In this article, we highlight the work of the Multicultural Services Centre of Western Australia.
Emma Ting and Joyce Cheung are final-year law students at UNSW and they’re our interns this semester! Meet them here.
A list of articles of interest to the pro bono community that have been published since our last edition.
Last month, we wrote about wage theft and the firms undertaking pro bono legal work to secure justice for exploited temporary migrant workers. Shortly afterwards, 4Corners aired an investigation into modern slavery happening inside Canberra’s embassies and the foreign workers that are tricked into inhumane conditions as domestic servants in the nation’s capital. With the plight of temporary migrant workers increasingly under the spotlight, the Diplomacy Training Program’s (DTP) Migrant Worker International Law Reference Tool is a timely resource for advocates.
Ashika* lost her job when she refused to give up her employee status for an independent contracting arrangement with the same business. Feeling that she’d been wronged but not knowing what she could do about the situation, she came to Inner Melbourne Community Legal (IMCL). When IMCL partnered with Clayton Utz to launch a fortnightly employment law clinic, the idea was to create a sustainable solution.
Jo Renkin, Head of Pro Bono and Community Engagement at Lander & Rogers, chats about the pro bono program at her firm. Watch this video to meet Jo and hear her insights!
To round off our series of interviews with Target Signatories, for this edition we caught up with 2017 Law Society President’s Award nominee, Joanne Sharah. Each year the Law Society presents the Award to a member of its Pro Bono Scheme in recognition of the outstanding pro bono work they have done through the Scheme.
Joanne is principal of Sharah and Associates, a small firm based in Sydney’s inner west.
Upcoming events of interest to the pro bono and access to justice community in Australia.
Welcome to Claudia Crause, our newest Secondee Policy and Project Officer. Claudia comes to us from Australian Government Solicitor (AGS), where she has been practising as a lawyer for the past two years.
Articles of interest to the pro bono community that have been published since our last edition.
With the publication of Wage Theft in Australia: Findings of the National Temporary Migrant Work Survey, we’re highlighting the crucial need for pro bono work in this space. See the story for more on the report and how two large law firms are helping tackle the problem.
Continuing our series of Q&A interviews with Target Signatories, this month we catch up with a NSW lawyer from a small firm who was nominated for the 2017 Law Society President’s Award. See what Peter Livers, principal of Slattery Thompson, has to share about his many years of involvement in pro bono.
See who’s new and who’s been promoted into key pro bono coordination roles at the end of 2017/start of 2018.
Ju Hi Jin joined our team in late November. You may already have spoken with her over the phone or corresponded with her via email, so we thought we’d share a little bit more about our new(ish) Office Administrator.