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7 July 2008
The Law Council of Australia and the National Pro Bono Resource Centre have teamed up again to host the second National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference, to be held 13–15 November 2008 in Sydney. The program is now online at www.a2j08.com.au/program.html.
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7 July 2008
New clauses 11.3-11.5 of the Commonwealth Legal Services Directions came into force on 1 July 2008 and now require the Chief Executive of a Commonwealth agency to ensure that the agency, when selecting and retaining legal services providers, does not adversely discriminate against legal services providers that have acted, or may act, pro bono for clients in legal proceedings against the Commonwealth or its agencies unless there is an actual conflict of interest.
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5 June 2008
The Centre has developed a policy model for the Commonwealth purchase of legal services that it believes will encourage and promote pro bono work without creating a mandatory obligation to provide that work. The Centre seeks comment from the legal profession on the draft model before providing final advice to the government.
In a long awaited change, the Commonwealth Legal Service Directions are to be amended from 1 July 2008 to ensure that Commonwealth agencies do not discriminate against external legal service providers who perform pro bono legal work against the Commonwealth.
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5 June 2008
On 19 May, nearly 1,000 walkers in four States braved chilly Monday morning air to participate in the inaugural Law Walk for Justice. The 5-km event was run simultaneously in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and raised more than $30,000, which will go towards funding the work of the Public Interest Law Clearing Houses in each State.
Among the walkers were the Attorneys-General of Queensland, NSW and Victoria and Chief Justices and Judges from the State Supreme and District Courts.
Click here to view photos of the walk in four states.
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1 May 2008
On 18 April 2008 the Commonwealth Attorney-General announced a one-off allocation of additional funds of $10m to support Community Legal Centres and $7 million for Legal Aid. Bob Debus, Minister for Home Affairs, announced an additional $4.9m to support the operations of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services. All those who have been involved in making the case for additional funding over the years should be congratulated and congratulate themselves.
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1 May 2008
South Australian lawyers will join lawyers in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in a “Walk for Justice” at 7am on 19 May 2008 to raise funds to establish a pro bono clearing house in South Australia. The Law Society’s Justice Access Committee is supporting the initiative and urges the profession to get behind this landmark project
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9 April 2008
Lawyers in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria will “Walk for Justice” at 7am on Monday 19 May 2008 to coincide with a similar walks being held in London and various other locations around the UK. The inaugural walk is a fundraising event for the PILCHs. Law firms and barristers' chambers are encouraged to get walking teams together to be a part of this historic first "Walk for Justice".
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9 April 2008
In her new role as the senior lawyer with pilchconnect, Victoria, Liz Morgan plans to bring new resources and funding to provide legal supprt to community organisations by using websites and seminars to provide relevant legal information
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13 March 2008
A survey of 887 solicitors conducted by the National Pro Bono Resource Centre, has revealed that about $250 million of work was undertaken on a pro bono basis by Australian solicitors in 2007 and the figure continues to rise. On average this amounts to every solicitor giving one week each year of their time free of charge to the community. To read a copy of the media release, click here. To download survey reports click here.read more >
13 December 2007
A Guide to the pro bono practices of 22 of the largest law firms in NSW was launched last night at the Sydney office of Freehills. The Guide is a joint publication of the NSW Young Lawyers and the National Pro Bono Resource Centre. It profiles each firm's pro bono practice under common criteria thus allowing the reader to compare and contrast the practices. The Guide will be distributed to all final year law students in NSW in 2008. The Guide (PDF 2.8MB, 92pp) can be downloaded here.
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