Gadens has a young and growing pro bono practice, a key component of which is a housing clinic with Moonee Valley Legal Service. This pro bono partnership began in 2016 when the firm’s Pro Bono Coordinator started talking with Moonee Valley about how they could work together.
Located in North-Eastern NSW, Moree and Walgett are small outback towns with a rich Indigenous and colonial history. Regrettably, Indigenous disadvantage persists in the region to this day, particularly in relation to housing conditions. On a single street in Moree, issues ranged from black mould in a leaking bathroom or a shower with no floor, to exposed and dangerous electrical fittings, and an elderly woman living without a functioning stove.
The MinterEllison pro bono team in Melbourne has successfully protected a mother and her three children from the risk of homelessness. The firm’s Homeless Law team acted for a social housing tenant who was facing eviction because of breaches of a compliance order relating to her intellectually disabled son’s behaviour.
Corrs Chambers Westgarth (Corrs) has won the award for innovation in Social Responsibility in the recent 2017 Financial Times Asia Pacific Innovative Lawyers Awards (the Awards). Working with long-term client, The Big Issue, the firm created a legal mechanism for ‘Homes for Homes’ – a newly launched initiative to tackle the lack of social and affordable housing in Australia. It is the first initiative of its kind in Australia.