Our Pro Bono Practice

If we wish to live in a society ruled by law, then everyone must have access to legal representation and advice.

A strong Pro Bono practice is of vital importance, and not because it makes us better lawyers, or keeps our feet on the ground. First and foremost, pro bono work is about the impact which it has on our pro bono clients. It is about making people's rights mean something. It is about helping community organisations and charities to get on with their vital work assisting disadvantaged and marginalised people. It is about fixing injustice.

Like many in our profession, lawyers at Clayton Utz have always provided pro bono legal assistance. In 1997, we created a dedicated pro bono program to co-ordinate our pro bono legal work and formalise it as a part of all of our lawyers' legal practice. Since then, our Pro Bono practice has grown to become the largest in Australia.

Pro bono work, both for people who cannot obtain Legal Aid and who cannot afford legal advice or representation, and for the not for profit organisations which support disadvantaged and marginalised people, is a fundamental part of being a lawyer at Clayton Utz. All of our lawyers are expected to be a part of our Pro Bono practice, and to meet the same high standards required of all legal work at Clayton Utz.

In just over 11 years, our Pro Bono practice provided more than 250,000 hours of pro bono assistance, to more than 1,400 community groups and charities, and over 2,000 individuals who could not obtain Legal Aid. We also helped hundreds of people who have seen us at one of our five drop-in legal clinics. In 2009, our pro bono practice now represents more than 3% of the firm's legal practice.

Clayton Utz works collaboratively with community legal and other not for profit organisations, with government, and with other members of the legal profession, to ensure that our Pro Bono practice is responsive to community needs. We have a particular commitment to regional and remote communities. Outside of the main cities, we act each year for clients in more than 40 regional communities around Australia, from Fitzroy Crossing, Alice Springs and Weipa to Brewarrina, Dubbo and Bendigo. We work closely with the Groote Eylandt community in the Northern Territory and have seconded lawyers since 2005 to Kimberley Community Legal Services in Kununurra in Western Australia, the most geographically isolated community legal centre in the country.

In 2006 we appointed a full-time Pro Bono Partner. In 2007 we became a foundation signatory to the National Aspirational Pro Bono Target, which challenges Australian lawyers to conduct at least 35 hours of pro bono work each year, a target which we exceed.

To learn more about our Pro Bono practice, please contact David Hillard, our National Partner, Pro Bono. You can learn more about obtaining pro bono assistance here.