The Commonwealth has just released their annual legal services expenditure report for 2016-2017 reporting total legal services expenditure of $825.51m (up 4.2%), and 502,619 hours of pro bono legal work done by reporting firms (down 9.5% on 2015-16 results).
The Commonwealth Government’s Legal Services Multi-Use List (LSMUL) of firms authorised to provide legal services to the Commonwealth ceased on 1 July 2018 and with it some of the conditions that formally encouraged firms to undertake pro bono legal work.
In early 2017, the Law Council of Australia embarked on a national, comprehensive review into the state of access to justice in Australia for people experiencing significant disadvantage.
We’re pleased to congratulate pro bono coordinators Rebecca Dominguez and Sara Lane on their much-deserved promotions.
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.
The Hon. Malcolm McCusker AC CVO QC recently took up the post of Company Director and Chairman of Law Access WA, a legal pro bono referral service connecting some of the most vulnerable people from all over Western Australia, who cannot afford legal assistance, with lawyers willing to assist on a pro bono basis. We spoke to Mr. McCusker about his new role at Law Access WA and his experience of pro bono legal work.
Walking up to 23 km a day through the central Australian desert may seem an unusual way of supporting access to justice, but one pro bono project has done exactly that, proving along the way that thinking outside the square can deliver multiple benefits for the client group, the working relationship and the delivery of legal services.
On 22 August 2018, the Australian Pro Bono Centre (Centre) and Law Society of NSW hosted a forum to engage and support in-house corporate lawyers to do pro bono legal work.
Welcome to Trent Wallace, our newest Secondee Policy and Project Officer. Trent comes to us from Australian Government Solicitor (AGS).