Information on Pro Bono

History of Pro Bono in Australia

Lawyers have been providing pro bono legal services for a very long time. However, the growth of a structured approach to pro bono by law firms is a relatively recent occurrence.

What follows is a chronology of some key events that mark the history and development of the “pro bono movement” by law firms in Australia.

1967	Apartheid protests in NSW — Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst Australia) operates a roster of solicitors to attend the central local court to assist protesters.
Early 1980s	Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst Australia) places a lawyer on secondment at Port Hedland to assist Cambodian refugees.
1989	The first pro bono clinic is established in Perth by Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills).
1991	The Law Society of NSW develops its first pro bono policy.
1992	The Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH) (now Justice Connect) is established in NSW. Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills) establishes its first secondment to Kingsford Legal Centre, a secondment which continues to this day. The Law Access service is established in WA. The Law Council of Australia publishes its first definition of pro bono.
1993	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.
1994	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.
1996	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.
1998	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.
2000	The First National Pro Bono Conference is held. The Law Institute of Victoria Legal Assistance Scheme (LIVLAS) is established. The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) conducts its Managing Justice inquiry, which notes concern that the ethic and culture of professional service is being eroded or lost. It recommends that professional associations should urge members to undertake pro bono work each year in terms similar to that stated in American Bar Association Model rules of professional conduct.
2001	The Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House (QPILCH) (now LawRight) is established. Report of the National Pro Bono Task Force to the Commonwealth Attorney-General, which recommends the establishment of the National Pro Bono Resource Centre, is completed and tabled. The Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic, now Homeless Law, is established in Victoria.
2002	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.
2003	The Second National Pro Bono Conference is held in Sydney. The Centre publishes the first edition of the Australian Pro Bono Manual.
2004	The ACT pro bono clearing house is launched. The Homeless Persons Legal Service is established in NSW. The Senate Legal Aid and Constitutional Committee Inquiry in to Legal Aid and Access to Justice devotes a chapter to pro bono services.
2005	The Victoria Law Foundation holds its first pro bono workshop. The Centre publishes the second edition of the Australian Pro Bono Manual.
2006	The Clayton Utz is the first national law firm to appoint a pro bono partner in Australia. The Human Rights Law Resource Centre (now the Human Rights Law Centre) is established in Victoria. The First Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference is held in Melbourne. The Homeless Persons Legal Clinic (HPLC) is established in SA.
2007	The National Pro Bono Aspirational Target of 35 hours per lawyer per year is established (now know as National Pro Bono Target). Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst Australia) appoints its first pro bono partner.
2008	The inaugural Walk for Justice is held in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney Gilbert+Tobin appoints its first pro bono partner. The Centre releases its first biennial National Law Firm Pro Bono Survey. The Centre releases the First Performance Report on the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target. The Second National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference is held in Sydney. PilchConnect (now Not-for-profit Law), a pro bono service for not-for-profit organisations, is launched by PILCH Victoria (now Justice Connect).
2009	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 SA. The Cancer Council Legal Referral Service is launched in Sydney.
2010	The Law Society of Tasmania launches a pro bono clearing house. The Third National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference is held in Brisbane. The National Pro Bono PI Insurance Scheme is formally approved in Queensland.
2011	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.
2012	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.
2013	The Fourth National Access to Justice & Pro Bono Conference is held in Melbourne. 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. The Second South East Asia/Asia Pro Bono Conference and Workshop is held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 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).
2014	Australia’s first regional pro bono referral organisation is opened by QPILCH (now LawRight) in Townsville. From 1 July 2014, firms listed on the Commonwealth Government’s Legal Services Multi-Use List that have fifty or more lawyers are required to become signatories to the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target. The 3rd Annual Asia Pro Bono Conference is held in Singapore. The Productivity Commission releases its Inquiry Report on Access to Justice Arrangements, which contains findings and recommendations on “pro bono services”.
2015	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 Fifth National Access to Justice & Pro Bono Conference is held in Sydney. The National Pro Bono PI Insurance Scheme is approved by the ACT Law Society. The Fourth Annual Asia Pro Bono Conference is held in Myanmar.
2016	The Centre launches 3rd edition of ‘The Australian Pro Bono Manual’ and 2nd edition of ‘A Practical Guide to What Works in pro bono partnerships’. The Centre launches the the Australian Pro Bono Best Practice Guide. The Centre produces the ‘Pro Bono Legal Services in RRR areas’ film shown at the annual NACLC Annual Conference in Fremantle and the International Bar Association Conference in Sydney.
2017	The sixth National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference is held in Adelaide. The Centre launches the the Client Management and Self-Care – A guide for pro bono lawyers. The Centre launches ‘A guide for in-house Corporate Lawyers’ in partnership with the NSW Law Society and the Association of Corporate Counsel. Marriage Equality is achieved after long-term support from various firms and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. Two challenges to the same-sex marriage plebiscite are run in the High Court on a pro bono basis.
2018	Tenth 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 that 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.
2019	The seventh National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference is held in Canberra. 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.
2020	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.

Page last updated 2021.

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