Other Information & Resources

The following resources, produced by organisations other than the Centre, provide additional perspectives on pro bono legal assistance. Included in this page are:

• Articles, speeches, guides, government and parliamentary reports
• Information about legal needs
• International protocols
• More information & resources (includes links to information on case law, corporate social responsibility and a list of law firm pro bono webpages)

• Inquiry Report on Access to Justice Arrangements, Productivity Commission – December 2014 
  For a summary of this report see National Pro Bono News, Issue 94

• Beyond the Numbers: What We Know—and Should Know—About American Pro Bono (Scott L. Cummings and Rebecca L. Sandefur), 7 Harvard Law & Policy Review 83 (2013)

• Can corporates do pro bono? (Rebecca Lowe), (2011) 7 In-House Perspective.

• Community legal centres and pro bono work: For the Public Good? (Mark Rix), (2003) 28 Alternative Law Journal. 

• Pro Bono at Work: Report on the Pro Bono Legal Work of 25 Large Australian Law Firms (Maria Twomey and John Corker), (2008) 11 Legal Ethics.

• Pro Bono – New Strategy for Public Interest Litigation? (Donald Robertson), (1994) 19 Alternative Legal Journal.

• Rethinking Pro Bono: Students Lending a Legal Hand (Sebastian De Brennan), (2005) 15 Legal Education Revue.

• Mandating a Culture of Service: Pro Bono in the Law School Curriculum (Les A McCrimmon), (2003-04) 14 Legal Education Revue.

• Public Interest meets Public Ownership: Pro Bono and the Publicly Traded Law Firm (Arthur T. Farrell), (2008) 21 The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

• The legal profession’s beautiful myth: surveying the justifications for the lawyer’s obligation to perform pro bono work (Fiona McLeay), (2008) 15(3) International Journal of the Legal Profession.

• The Hon Murray Gleeson, Opening of the National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference (Paper presented at National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference, Melbourne, 11 August 2006).

• The Hon Wayne Martin AC, Access to Justice (Paper presented at Notre Dame University, Fremantly Campus, 26 February 2014).

• Instilling a Commitment to Service: A Law Firm Pro Bono Seminar (Kimberley Emery and Scot H. Fishman), 4 Journal of Legal Education 62 (2013)

• Pro Bono: Looking back, Moving forward, 2008, Kelly Carmody and Associates (Report prepared for the Florida Supreme Court/The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Service)

• The Power of Pro Bono (Nicolas Patrick), 2 LSJ: Law Society of NSW Journal 3 (2015)

• A Strategic Framework for Access to Justice in the Federal Civil Justice System, Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department, September 2009

• Civil Justice Review, 2008, Victorian Law Reform Commission, Report No 14

• Legal Services, Australia Publication, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009

• Victorian Attorney-General’s Community Law Partnerships – Final Report and Action Plan
  – April 2007

• Report of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee: Report into Legal Aid and Access to Justice, June 2004.  See Chapter 9 — Pro Bono Legal Services

• Federal Civil Justice System Strategy Paper — December 2003

• Lessons from the provision of legal services to people experiencing homelessness in the United States, P Lynch, Public Interest Law Clearing House, March 2003

• Report of the National Pro Bono Task Force to the Commonwealth Attorney-General — 14 June 2001, Commonwealth of Australia

• Managing Justice: A Review of the Federal Civil Justice System, Australian Law Reform Commission Report, 1999 (ALRC Report 89)
  Chapter 5 — Legal Assistance.  Pro bono discussed in paras. 5.12-5.20 and recommendations 37 and 38
  For these paragraphs see Legal Assistance by Lawyers.

• Future directions for Pro bono legal services in New South Wales, NSW Law and Justice Foundation, 1998, reprinted 2002, and Supplementary report

• Legal Australia-Wide (LAW) Survey: Legal need in Australia, The Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales – August 2012
  The Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales (LJF) produced a series of nine reports providing the findings of a national survey of legal needs – the LAW Survey. It is the first comprehensive assessment across Australia of an extensive range of legal needs on a representative sample of the Australian population. It consists of a report on Australia as a whole and a report on each state/territory.

  Prior to the LAW Survey the LJF published a number of reports as part of its Access to Justice and Legal Needs Project which commenced in 2002.  These reports cover issues faced by people in disadvantaged areas, people with a mental illness, older people, homeless people and prisoners.  The reports are available and data can be searched through the “Just Search” facility on the LJF website.

• Pro bono legal services in Western Sydney, G McAllister & T Altobelli, University of Western Sydney, Law and Justice Foundation of NSW
  — November 2005

A number of jurisdictions have developed protocols and statements of principle in relation to pro bono legal work that have supported its development.

Some of these are linked below

• (1983) – American Bar Association Rule 6.1 Voluntary Pro Bono Publico Service (contains an aspirational target of at least 50 hours per lawyer)
• (1993) – US Pro Bono Institute Law Firm Challenge.
  The Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge is a global aspirational pro bono standard. Developed by law firm leaders and corporate general counsel, the Challenge articulates a single, unitary standard for one key segment of the legal profession – the world’s largest law firms. Major law firms that become signatories to the Challenge acknowledge their institutional, firm-wide commitment to provide pro bono legal services to low income and disadvantaged individuals and families and non-profit groups.
• (2006) – American Bar Association Pro Bono Resolution
  At the 2006 Annual Meeting, the ABA House of Delegates adopted a resolution which, in part, urges government attorneys to serve their communities through pro bono and public service activities consistent with applicable rules of professional conduct. The resolution encourages government agencies to adopt written pro bono policies and procedures that include a definition of pro bono, sets forth case approval and conflicts checking procedures and addresses use of office resources. Other suggestions include designating a pro bono coordinator or committee, identifying and addressing any regulatory impediments to pro bono participation, and development of recognition programs.
• (2006) – UK Pro Bono Protocol
  The Joint UK Protocol for Pro Bono Legal Work was developed jointly by the Bar Pro Bono Unit and Law Works. The Protocol ‘sets out core values of pro bono legal work to assist both those who undertake it and their clients’. The protocol was officially launched and signed by major UK pro bono providers and supporters including the Bar Council, the Bar Pro Bono Unit, sets of Chambers, law firms and law schools.
• (2007) – Australian Statement of Principles
  Developed by the Centre in consultation with the Australian pro bono sector, it contains the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target of at least 35 hours per lawyer per year.
• (2008) – Pro Bono Declaration for the Americas
  Prepared by the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice at the New York Bar, it contains an aspirational target of at least 20 hours per lawyer within three years.
• (2008) – UK Attorney General’s Pro Bono Declaration: A statement of principles for International Pro Bono Legal Work
  This declaration of the UK Attorney General in March 2009 sets out ‘core principles’ for pro bono legal work which is directed overseas. It has been endorsed by the Bar Council, the International Bar Association, Law Society of England and Wales and the Institute of Legal Executives. To read the Declaration, please click here.
• (2014) – Collaborative Plan for Pro Bono in the UK
  The Plan is a profession-led initiative in which participating law firms share a collective belief that pro bono is a professional responsibility for all lawyers. The Plan facilitates collaboration between firms to develop systems and infrastructure to allow pro bono services to be effectively delivered to address unmet legal need in the UK. The Plan also incorporates an aspirational target of 25 pro bono hours on average per fee-earner per year. TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service that connects NGOs with law firm, publishes participants’ performance on an anonymous basis.

Other countries such as Poland, Israel, South Africa, Nigeria have made pro bono declarations and/or prepared voluntary protocols. Links to some of these can be found on the IBA pro bono website. More information on international pro bono in general can be found in International Pro Bono.

You can also find a comparison of various overseas protocols in:

• Reconsidering pro bono: A comparative analysis of protocols in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore, Maguire, Rowena; Shearer, Gail and Field, Rachael, University of New South Wales Law Journal, Vol. 37, No. 3, 2014: 1164-1197

• Our Publications: list of the Centre’s publications, available for download

• Our Conferences: papers from conferences hosted by the Centre

• Pro Bono Case Law: examples of Australian case law and judgments that relate specifically to pro bono

• Recovery of Costs: page specifically focused on the issue of recovery of costs in pro bono litigation

• Pro Bono Pages on Law Firm Websites: links to pages on Australian law firm websites with information on their pro bono practices

• Corporate Social Responsibility: information on the relationship between pro bono and Corporate Social Responsibility