| - Apartheid protests in NSW — Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst Australia) operates a roster of solicitors to attend the central local court to assist protesters.
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| - Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst Australia) places a lawyer on secondment at Port Hedland to assist Cambodian refugees.
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| - The first pro bono clinic is established in Perth by Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills).
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| - Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills) establishes the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre in Darlinghurst, Sydney in partnership with Mission Australia to provide legal services for homeless and disadvantaged youth.
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| - The Access to Justice Advisory Committee chaired by Justice Ronald Sackville reports to the Attorney-General on ways to improve access to justice, but there is no mention of pro bono legal services.
- PILCH Victoria (now Justice Connect) is established.
- The NSW Bar Legal Assistance Referral Scheme is established.
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| - Gilbert+Tobin appoints the first law firm pro bono coordinator in Australia.
- The Australian Legal Aid Office is closed and Legal Aid funding for Commonwealth “matters” rather than “persons” becomes the rationale for Commonwealth legal aid funding.
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| - Order 80 Federal Court Rules Scheme (court-appointed referral for legal assistance) commences.
- Voluntas (a project of the Victoria Law Foundation) is established in Victoria as a Pro Bono Secretariat.
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| - The National Pro Bono Resource Centre (now the Australian Pro Bono Centre) is established.
- The Victorian Government Pro Bono Secondment Scheme commences.
- The QPILCH Homeless Persons Legal Service (now LawRight) commences.
- The Victorian Government introduces “pro bono” conditions into its government legal services panel arrangements.
- Arnold Bloch Leibler appoints Peter Seidel as the first public interest law partner in Australia.
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| - The National Pro Bono Aspirational Target of 35 hours per lawyer per year is established (now known as National Pro Bono Target).
- Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst Australia) appoints its first pro bono partner.
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| - Bushfire Legal Help clinics, staffed from volunteer lawyers, are established in response to the Black Saturday Victorian bushfires.
- The Centre launches the new National Pro Bono Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme, to insure lawyers from civil claims arising from their pro bono work. The Scheme is formally approved by the Council of the Law Society of New South Wales.
- An Australian Bureau of Statistics survey indicates that lawyers performed 955,400 hours of pro bono work in 2007 and 2008.
- A new pro bono clearing house, JusticeNet SA, is launched in South Australia.
- The Cancer Council Legal Referral Service is launched in Sydney.
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| - Flood and Cyclone Legal Help is established by key Queensland legal organisations as a pro bono legal response to assist disadvantaged Queenslanders affected by the floods and cyclones Anthony and Yasi.
- Social Justice Opportunities – A Guide for Law Students and New Lawyers and the accompanying website (sjoppps.net.au) are launched, with the aim of providing law students and young lawyers information about opportunities to be involved in furthering social justice throughout their legal career.
- Salvos Legal is launched. The fees generated by Salvos Legal’s commercial and property law practice were used to fund its sister firm, Salvos Legal Humanitarian, which provided free legal advice to the disadvantaged and marginalised.
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| - The Commonwealth introduces its new ‘legal services multi-use list’ (LSMUL). It required law firms to apply for inclusion on this list, and involved an assessment of their capacity to meet the requirements of the Legal Services Directions, which includes a commitment to pro bono legal work.
- Victoria amends the Legal Profession Act 2004 to remove restrictions that prevented holders of corporate practicing certificates from engaging in pro bono legal practice.
- The Legal Services Board in Victoria approves the National Pro Bono Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme.
- The Centre for Asia Pacific Pro Bono is launched, seeking to provide a single entry point for government and private bodies in the Asia-Pacific region to contact providers of pro bono legal services in Australia.
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| - The Centre launches Pro Bono Partnerships and Models: A Practical Guide to What Works which provides practical information on what works well in collaborative pro bono projects.
- The Commonwealth Attorney-General announces funding of $4 million over four years for a self-represented litigants civil law scheme to operate in the Federal Court and Federal Circuit Court nationwide, based on the successful pro bono self-representation schemes pioneered by the Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House.
- Justice Connect is launched in Melbourne and Sydney following the integration of the Public Interest Law Clearing House (VIC) and Public Interest Law Clearing House (NSW).
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| - Law Access Ltd in Western Australia opens its doors at the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Australia, moving from being a pro bono referral scheme within the Law Society of Western Australia to a pro bono referral organisation in form of a wholly owned subsidiary of the Law Society.
- The National Pro Bono Resource Centre launches its new identity as the Australian Pro Bono Centre.
- The National Pro Bono PI Insurance Scheme is approved by the ACT Law Society.
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| - The 10th anniversary review of the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target takes place leading to changes to the definition of ‘pro bono legal services’ and removal of the word ‘aspirational’ from the title of the Target.
- ExpertsDirect and the Australian Pro Bono Centre launch the Experts Direct Pro Bono Service . The service aims to put pro bono lawyers in touch with professionals who are willing to provide expert witness services for free or at low cost in legal cases assisting those experiencing disadvantage or marginalisation.
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| - The Centre launches ‘A guide for Government Lawyers’.
- The Commonwealth introduced a ‘Whole of Australian Government Legal Services Panel’ which replaced the ‘Legal Services Multi-Use List’ (LSMUL). It introduced new pro bono conditions which require all legal services providers appointed to the panel to sign up to the Centre’s National Pro Bono Target.
- The Centre launches ‘Pro Bono Voco, a biannual journal highlighting the impactful work of the Australian pro bono community. The journal features pro bono projects, profiles leaders within the pro bono community and provides updates on key developments.
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| - The Centre, in consultation with the In-house Pro Bono Steering Committee, opens the National Pro Bono Target to in-house signatories. In-house lawyers can commit to undertaking at least 20 hours of pro bono legal services per in-house lawyer per year.
- The Centre launches the Pro Bono Guide to the Climate Crisis which aims to inform lawyers across the globe about various ways they can get involved in pro bono work to help combat the climate crisis.
- The Centre launches Pro Bono Legal Work: A Guide for Individual Lawyers. The Guide is designed to educate and inspire lawyers who are interested in undertaking pro bono volunteer work in a personal capacity, outside of a formal program or through employment.
- On 1 June 2020, the Queensland Government implement annual reporting requirements for pro bono services rendered by panel firms providing legal services to the Government.
- On 1 July 2020, the Western Australia Government enforce commitment to the National Pro Bono Target for panel firms providing legal services to the Government.
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| - Barrister’s chambers are encouraged to sign up for the National Pro Bono Target. Murray Chambers in South Australia is the first in Australia to sign up.
- To link new Pro Bono Target Signatories with experienced pro bono practitioners, the Centre launches the ‘Buddy Program’. The program connects members of the pro bono community to assist mentees learning about the initial stages of establishing a pro bono practice.
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