Working with First Nations Clients

Many pro bono practices across the country, including individual lawyers and law firms, have developed a focus on supporting First Nations individuals and organisations, a trend that is reflected in the Centre’s 2024 Biennial National Pro Bono Law Firm Survey results. This reflects, in part, a broader shift among legal services providers to interrogate their role in advancing justice for First Nations peoples. Ensuring this work is done appropriately and safely is a professional and ethical obligation and a critical step in addressing institutional inequality.

To support this, the Centre has developed a practical guide to help lawyers and law firms provide culturally safe and responsive legal services to First Nations clients.

This Guide is about more than just good practice, it’s about respect. Respect for the voices, stories, and experiences of First Nations peoples in the legal system. I hope it helps lawyers build stronger, more culturally safe relationships with
First Nations pro bono clients.

Kishaya Delaney
Wiradjuri woman, Pro Bono Solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

The Guide draws on First Nations-led approaches to engagement and a mixed-methods framework, including extensive consultations through yarning sessions and interviews with First Nations lawyers, clients, community leaders, and non-Indigenous lawyers in the pro bono sector.

The Guide aims to support law firms and lawyers undertaking pro bono work to:

• understand and respond to the legal needs of First Nations peoples;
• promote equitable access to justice; and
• support community-led outcomes and self-determination.

The Guide weaves together First Nations narratives, scholarly insights, stakeholder reflections, and hands-on tools to support lawyers and law firms in building culturally safe legal practices.

The Guide seeks to provide information to support lawyers and law firms to deliver respectful, effective and culturally safe pro bono practices in partnership with First Nations clients and communities. Importantly, this Guide is grounded in the lived experiences of First Nation peoples, as well as insights from pro bono practitioners and existing best practice resources.

The Guide includes:

• Emphasis on cultural safety: legal practice that respects and responds to First Nations peoples’ identities, knowledges, and lived experiences, with guidance on trauma-informed practice, clear communication and meaningful partnerships.
• Addressing systemic issues: guidance on putting principles of cultural safety and human rights into practice—acknowledging the ongoing impacts of colonisation and institutional racism on legal systems, and the colonial load often placed on First Nations practitioners.
• Practical tools and insights: tools drawn from First Nations stories, scholarly work, and pro bono and legal assistance voices to help shape culturally safe practice.