National Pro Bono Conference 2000

The First National Pro Bono Conference: For the public good was held in Canberra in August 2000. It was the initiative of the Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Hon. Daryl Williams AM QC MP. It was attended by about 500 members of the public, private and community legal sectors, legal educators, judges and judicial,officers, government officials, and representatives from professional associationsand the business and philanthropic sectors.  

It acknowledged the pro bono work undertaken by the legal profession and explored ways to better coordinate the delivery of services at national, state and regional levels. Out of the conference came the National Pro Bono Task Force appointed by the A-G, chaired by Professor David Weisbrot that produced its report in June 2001.

The proceedings of the first conference were published as ‘For the public good: Pro Bono and the Legal Profession in Australia’, Ed: Christopher Arup, Kathy Laster, The Federation Press, 2001. A copy of the keynote address by Prof Stephen Parker can be found here and the briefing papers can be found here. Further papers not included in the briefing papers can be found here (David Hillard - The Recent American Law Firm Pro Bono Experience) and here (Jon Tippett - Pro Bono: A Criminal Law Perspective).

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