Issue 131: November 2018
Welcome to the November 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
The Eleventh Annual Performance Report on the Australian Pro Bono Target, released on 11 October 2018, shows that 12,051 Australian lawyers provided a total of 414,843 hours of pro bono legal services in FY2018. This happens to be 1.3% less than the 420,195 hours reported in FY2017 but nevertheless an impressive performance!
Small yearly fluctuations have always been part of the Target landscape as capacity, opportunities, management and coordination change. This year is no different in that respect. An analysis of the results on a firm by firm basis shows there being just as many firms with a better result than last year, as those whose hours per lawyer fell during the year.
As identified in discussion with pro bono coordinators, the challenge remains how to better contextualise these figures and tell the stories of the outcomes and impact of this work, an issue that the Centre will continue to focus on.
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What can we learn from the recently held Asia Pro Bono Conference (see story below)?
- That Australians continue to be leaders in many aspects of pro bono development globally
- That ideas about unmet legal need in the region do translate to Australia. e.g. the impact of a lack of identity documents, statelessness, and the plight of exploited workers.
- That the Business and Human Rights agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals are becoming more visible and applied in pro bono practice and project development.
- That there continues to be evidence of this Centre’s regional influence and where its resources have had a positive impact on the development of legal pro bono culture in other countries in the region.
- That this conference is continuing to have a positive impact on the development of legal pro bono culture in countries throughout the region.
John Corker
12 November 2018
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Issue 131: November 2018
Welcome to the November 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.
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Editorial: 7th Asia Pro Bono Conference boosts pro bono
It was fitting that the 2018 Asia Pro Bono Conference was held in Hong Kong on 25-27 October 2018, where the legal profession has been working hard in recent years seeking to advance and develop the pro bono activity of its lawyers. At the heart of this were none other than Australians Annette Bain, Pro Bono Counsel – Asia, for DLA Piper and Davyd Wong, a former Executive Councilor of the NSW Young Lawyers, now President and Founder of the Hong Kong Centre for Pro Bono Service, who had been working together with a great local team to stage this conference.
With over 400 delegates (including 28 Australians on my count), the conference was impressively opened by keynote speakers, The Honourable Geoffrey Ma Tao-Li, Chief Justice, Court of Final Appeal, Hong Kong and the Honourable Teresa Chang, Secretary of Justice, Hong Kong, both of whom made strong and supportive statements about Hong Kong lawyers becoming more involved in pro bono legal work.
The conference had some well-researched and presented sessions on key social issues that face the region such as the increasing number of people who lack legal identity, those considered stateless, people trafficking, the plight of migrant workers, greater imprisonment of women for drug offences, ageing populations, and a session on refugees and resettlement. This was matched with sessions that discussed law firm practice and challenges, the role of paralegals and the legal empowerment movement, and how the business and human rights agenda is becoming increasingly visible. All this provided a program with a thoughtful balance between the need and the challenges of meeting that need.
Dan Creasey from King Wood Mallesons led an interesting session with experienced practitioners about the challenges of managing local circumstances alongside global intentions.
Cate Martin from DLA Piper led a session on Global Pro Bono and the UN that provided recent examples of where the UN and pro bono providers have collaborated and the increasing role the SDGs are having in creating a useful framework for specific projects.
David Hillard from Clayton Utz spoke in a session about pro bono for migrant workers outlining the compensation claims that Clayton Utz had conducted for victims of slavery in Australia, and in another session on what a social justice lawyer looks like.
It was a privilege for me to facilitate the Beginners Guide to Pro Bono in Asia session with Tan Cheow Hung, of Beacon Law Corporation, Singapore, Leontine Chuang, PILnet, Hong Kong, in-house counsel for UBS in Hong Kong, Mary Ho, and new coordinator for TrustLaw in the Asian region, Trishna Mohan Kripalani. This was a lively session with good audience participation from a diverse range of attendees from across the globe. It was great to see some many new attendees at this conference discovering the power of pro bono.
I also spoke at a session for the launch of a new guide on Pro Bono Legal Work in Hong Kong for in-house counsel prepared by DLA Piper and the ACC adapted from the Centre’s guide with a similar title published in 2017 (with the ACC and the Law Society of NSW).
As is usual, Day 3 of the conference focussed largely on student pro bono and University Law Clinics. A strong contingent of students from UQ (also with Bridget Burton and Sue Garlick from Queensland), and Lesley Hitchens, Dean UTS Law were amongst the Australian contingent.
This conference continues to strengthen and provide a vehicle for development of a pro bono movement in Asia. Most rewarding are those stories of delegates from previous years who report on the implementation of new pro bono policies and projects from their home countries where they have been actively involved in making this happen. This year that included the Nepalese Bar adopting its first pro bono policy.
Next year the 8th Asia pro bono conference will be held in Kathmandu in Nepal.
John Corker
6 November 2018
John Corker
CEO
Pro bono lawyering on the front line of the refugee crisis: 3 weeks on Lesvos
Ella Alexander, Pro Bono Senior Associate at Makinson d'Apice Lawyers, shares her experience of pro bono lawyering on the front line of the refugee crisis on the Greek Island of Lesvos, where over 11,000 asylum seekers are stranded awaiting the outcome of their applications for refugee status.
What needs to change in the legal profession so women can thrive?
To mark 100 years of women in law in Australia, we asked three inspirational women legal practitioners - Leah Cameron, Nicky Friedman, Geetha Nair, and Hannah Rose - ‘what needs to change in the legal profession so that more women can thrive professionally and personally?’
Reporting back from the Australian Pro Bono & Skilled Volunteering Summit at Westpac, Sydney
On 1 November 2018 the Centre’s Head of Policy & Strategy, Gabriela Christian-Hare, participated in a panel discussion on measuring impact and story-telling at the Australian Pro Bono & Skilled Volunteering Summit at Westpac in Sydney.
75 year-old Hunter CLC Volunteer, Lynn Flanagan, proves it’s never too late for a career change
At 75, Lynn Flanagan is proving a dynamo volunteer at Hunter CLC. We caught up with Lynn to chat about her work, motivation and what life is like as a mature-age student!
Introducing our new Office Administrator, Natasha Rose
Meet our new Office Administrator, Natasha Rose, who left a high-flying career in experiential marketing to pursue a Master of Human Rights Law and Policy. Natasha has lived and studied in Mexico, interned at the Red Cross, and is now hard at work pursuing her passion for improving access to justice for society’s most vulnerable.
Pro Bono in the News – November 2018
Articles of interest to the pro bono community that have been published since our last edition.
7th Asia Pro Bono Conference boosts pro bono
It was fitting that the 2018 Asia Pro Bono Conference was held in Hong Kong on 25-27 October 2018, where the legal profession has been working hard in recent years seeking to advance and develop the pro bono activity of its lawyers.