Pro bono

AGS provides the leading pro bono practice amongst government lawyers across Australia.

We have had a policy in place to facilitate AGS lawyers undertaking pro bono work in their own capacity since 2002. We began investing in firm pro bono activities in 2006. In November 2008 we signed up to the National Pro Bono Resource Centre's Aspirational Target which sets a benchmark of 35 hours of pro bono legal work per lawyer per year.

Since signing up to the Aspirational Target in 2008, AGS has undertaken over 12,800 hours of pro bono work valued at more than $4.2 million. More than a quarter of our lawyers have undertaken some pro bono legal work. Our program is still young and continues to grow each year.

Our pro bono program

AGS's pro bono program is of a different nature to programs run by private law firms. Our character as a government-owned business and statutory authority places limits on the pro bono services we may provide. For example, we do not provide legal advice or assistance to individuals, and we do not undertake pro bono work in any matter against a Commonwealth department, agency or officer, or where there is an unacceptable potential for conflict of interest between the matter and our work for our government clients.

We work closely with our government clients and the community sector to deliver pro bono services that harmonise with our position as a government-owned legal services business serving the interests of the Commonwealth.

The focus of our pro bono program is on enhancing access to justice for disadvantaged people and disadvantaged communities, and capacity building in Asia-Pacific countries. The main areas of AGS pro bono work are:

undertaking legal matters for non-profit organisations in areas of law which are unlikely to give rise to disputes between our pro bono client and Commonwealth government departments and agencies, such as commercial and employment law
full or part-time secondments to pro bono legal clearing houses, community legal centres that work primarily in areas of Commonwealth law, or other non-profit organisations
legal training for community legal centres or other non-profit organisations
international pro bono projects involving the provision of legal advice, assistance or training to overseas organisations or governments.

Our pro bono work receives the same care and attention as our fee-earning work.

An area of particular interest to AGS is working with not-for-profit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations through the pro bono program. Our success in this area contributes to the achievement of the goals of our Reconciliation Action Plan, which was launched in November 2009.

Please visit the Annual Report 2010-11 to learn about the recent achievements of our pro bono program.

To find out more about our pro bono program or to apply for pro bono assistance, please contact Bronwyn Neroni, our Manager, Pro Bono Services.

AGS supports the efforts of the National Pro Bono Resource Centre and the Australian Law Students Association to provide information to law students and young lawyers about the opportunities to be involved in furthering social justice throughout their legal career. Click on this link to go to their website.