Issue 126: March 2018
Welcome to the March 2018 issue of AUSTRALIAN PRO BONO NEWS, the Centre’s monthly newsletter providing stories and articles of interest to the Australian pro bono community.
We welcome your feedback, submissions and ideas for both Australian Pro Bono News and our website – please email [email protected] or refer to our Contact page.
For past issues, visit our newsletter Archive.
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Editorial
We hope you enjoy the diverse case studies and the profiles in this month’s edition, particularly the video interview with Jo Renkin, Partner at Lander & Rogers, and a leader of pro bono development in Australia.
The Centre is looking forward to hosting discussion forums about the review of the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target in Sydney and Melbourne this month and for emerging and developing pro bono practices next month. Invitations have been sent but if we missed you, and you wish to attend, please get in touch.
With the expiry of the Commonwealth Legal Services Multi-Use List on 30 June 2018, the Centre has been working with the Commonwealth to have the pro bono conditions of the Legal Services Multi-Use Deed continue on, and be included in, the replacement procurement arrangement for government legal services expected in 2019. More on this later.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us for any support we may be able to offer.
John Corker
Subscribe to AUSTRALIAN PRO BONO NEWS
Issue 126: March 2018
Welcome to the March 2018 issue of AUSTRALIAN PRO BONO NEWS, the Centre’s monthly newsletter providing stories and articles of interest to the Australian pro bono community.
We welcome your feedback, submissions and ideas for both Australian Pro Bono News and our website – please email [email protected] or refer to our Contact page.
For past issues, visit our Archives page.
*
Editorial
We hope you enjoy the diverse case studies and the profiles in this month’s edition, particularly the video interview with Jo Renkin, Partner at Lander & Rogers, and a leader of pro bono development in Australia.
The Centre is looking forward to hosting discussion forums about the review of the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target in Sydney and Melbourne this month and for emerging and developing pro bono practices next month. Invitations have been sent but if we missed you, and you wish to attend, please get in touch.
With the expiry of the Commonwealth Legal Services Multi-Use List on 30 June 2018, the Centre has been working with the Commonwealth to have the pro bono conditions of the Legal Services Multi-Use Deed continue on, and be included in, the replacement procurement arrangement for government legal services expected in 2019. More on this later.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us for any support we may be able to offer.
John Corker
Technology to tackle exploitation of foreign workers
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.
Case study: Melbourne’s new employment law clinic – a pro bono partnership increasing capacity to address unmet legal need
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.
VIDEO: Q&A with Jo Renkin, Lander & Rogers
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!
Q&A with Joanne Sharah, Sharah & Associates
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.
Joanne is principal of Sharah and Associates, a small firm based in Sydney’s inner west.
What’s happening this autumn
Upcoming events of interest to the pro bono and access to justice community in Australia.
Pro Bono in the News – February 2018
Articles of interest to the pro bono community that have been published since our last edition.