23 May 2007
Sydney, 23 May 2007: Being of service to the community is a vital part of being a lawyer according to Clayton Utz articled clerk Daniel Matta, whose volunteering efforts have been recognised by the Victoria Law Foundation.
Daniel has received this year's Victoria Law Foundation Chief Justice's Medal for Excellence and Community Service. The medal is awarded to a graduating law student who has demonstrated academic excellence in his or her legal studies and a commitment to voluntary community activity and participation.
Daniel's community work spans several years, starting when he joined Victoria University's pilot volunteer program in 2003. Subsequently, and during his university studies, Daniel volunteered his time at several legal services including the Family Law Assistance program, Springvale Monash Legal Service, St Kilda Legal Service and Southport Legal Service.
As part of the award, Daniel received $1000 to donate to his nominated charity. Daniel chose the Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH), which connects individuals seeking legal assistance to lawyers in private practice.
Daniel, an articled clerk in the Clayton Utz Melbourne Corporate practice, said that he believed every lawyer had a professional and personal obligation to help those in need.
"Pro bono legal work is a defining part of our profession, and is one way in which lawyers can give back to the community in a meaningful and important way," Daniel said.
Daniel said Clayton Utz's commitment to providing pro bono legal services was one of the main reasons he decided to join the firm. "I was impressed by the fact the firm has a dedicated Pro Bono practice, which recognises pro bono work as a part of every Clayton Utz lawyer's ordinary practice. To me, that demonstrates a genuine commitment to pro bono by leading by example."
This year, Clayton Utz celebrates a decade of conducting a formal pro bono program for individuals and organisations in need. Since launching in 1997, the Clayton Utz pro bono program has provided 200,000 hours of free legal service to more than 2,700 clients.
In 2006 the practice represented over 200 individuals who could not obtain Legal Aid, along with more than 150 community groups and charities. Clayton Utz also assisted hundreds of individuals at one of six drop-in legal clinics, and seconded senior lawyers to the Consumer Law Advice Clinic in Brisbane and the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Centre. The focus on individual clients is a defining feature of the pro bono program. The case work involves everything from assisting victims of domestic violence to bring compensation claims, to successfully overturning a murder conviction before the High Court.
Providing legal services to remote and regional communities is another notable part of the practice. Clayton Utz seconds a lawyer to Australia's most geographically isolated community legal centre - Kimberley Community Legal Service at Kununurra - and also flies one of its Darwin solicitors 1,300km every month to work with the indigenous community at Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The firm appointed its first pro bono partner, David Hillard, in January 2006.
Congratulating Daniel on his award, David said he was proud that the firm's pro bono practice had played a part in Daniel's decision to join Clayton Utz. "Pro bono assistance for those who would otherwise fall through the cracks of our legal system is a fundamental part of practice at Clayton Utz and represents almost 2.5 per cent of our total legal work," said David. "Pro bono is part of the Clayton Utz culture which is recognised by all of our lawyers."
The firm is a Foundation Signatory of the National Pro Bono Resource Centre's National Pro Bono Aspirational Target launched this year, which asks all lawyers to aspire to a minimum of 35 hours pro bono work each year.
And the pro bono practice continues to grow. This year, for example, Clayton Utz has also established a secondment with the Taylor Street Community Legal Centre in Hervey Bay, and funds a full-time solicitor - the Clayton Utz Foundation Fellow - at Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre in Bendigo. According to David Hillard, these particular regional projects "are a response to the significant problems which Australians outside of our capital cities have in obtaining access to community legal representation".
