Publication
Pro Bono in Australia: A 2023 Year in Review
At Norton Rose Fulbright Australia (NRFA), it is our privilege to be able to use our specialist legal skills to make a positive social impact.
Pro bono
We have a long history of providing pro bono legal services, and we consider pro bono legal work to be a vital part of our cultural make-up. Not only does pro bono provide our lawyers with an opportunity to give back to the communities in which we operate, we also believe that pro bono can make a genuine difference to our clients.
Our focus areas
Our pro bono practice is led by national pro bono partner, Chris Owen, and complements our broader strategic focus on ESG. It is defined by four impact pillars and four focus themes. Targeting these specific legal areas helps us to build our expertise and provide more impactful outcomes.
Impact pillars
We focus on providing legal support to projects which:
- Benefit the environment (including biodiversity) or increase the sustainable use of resources;
- Protect international human rights, particularly through projects that (i) support refugees, (ii) reduce modern slavery, and (iii) promote human rights through sport;
- Assist individuals with poor mental health or those living with disabilities; and
- Support people who have experienced financial abuse and vulnerable consumers in seeking redress.
Focus themes
Within our focus areas, we prioritise projects which support one or more of the following cross-cutting themes:
- Projects benefiting First Nations communities (something we have committed to in our stretch RAP);
- Strategic litigation which seeks to deliver wide-reaching positive social change;
- Law reform and policy work, designed to bring about systemic change; and
- Harnessing new technologies and services to maximise access to justice.
Our impact
We’re proud of our contribution to pro bono, and in FY23 we completed more than 25,000 hours of pro bono work across Australia.
Within our practice and priority themes we act for disadvantaged or marginalised people who cannot afford legal services; non-profit organisations that support those individuals; and public interest matters of broad public or community concern that would not otherwise be pursued.
We also have a strong commitment to community legal centres through the provision of volunteer lawyers to legal clinics. Many of our lawyers have engaged in pro bono secondments to entities including Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Immigration Advice and Rights Centre, Refugee Advice and Casework Services, Anti-Slavery Australia and Settlement Services International in Sydney; Justice Connect, Refugee Legal and Human Rights Law Centre in Melbourne; Caxton Community Legal Centre and Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion in Brisbane; and Ruah Community Services and the Circle Green Community Legal Centre in Perth.
More information
For more information on our pro bono practice, please email us.
Please note that we do not accept direct requests for legal assistance. If you need legal assistance, we recommend that you contact your local Legal Aid or Community Legal Centre.
If you are unable obtain assistance from Legal Aid or a Community Legal Centre, you can request a pro bono referral through your state’s law society pro bono referral scheme or through Justice Connect (NSW and Victoria), JusticeNet (South Australia), LawRight (Queensland), Law Access (Western Australia) and Everyday Justice (every state and territory).
Insights
Publication
Virtual Justice? Exploring AI’s impact on legal accessibility
In this article we explore what types of innovation and AI have been, and are being, developed to facilitate access to justice, the merits and potential risks and how the legal industry may react as these developments continue.
Publication
Supporting the Voice: A matter of international human rights
As a firm we support proposed the Voice to Parliament. This support is consistent with our previous public statement.
Publication
Comments on the proposed Voice
As part of our pro bono commitment to supporting First Nations people in Australia, this publication provides background information about the proposed First Nations Voice in anticipation of the upcoming referendum, likely taking place later this year.
Publication
The latest IPCC reports: Impacts, adaption and mitigation
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released the latest parts of the Sixth Assessment Report. It assessed the impacts of climate change with a focus on the vulnerabilities, capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change.
