Ensuring people know their legal rights and have access to justice sits at the heart of our Community program. The changes we need to see in our legal system and society to make this possible cannot be achieved by one individual, law firm or community organisation.
Mallesons’ Community program makes a genuine commitment to change through a whole range of partnerships and commitments. Hours of work across our pro bono practice and generous financial support from our people through Mallesons’ pioneering DigDeep® workplace giving program, have all played a role in enabling our community partners to shift systems and processes towards access, fairness and justice.
Healthcare access for offshore detainees
Jonathon Hunyor, CEO of the Justice and Equity Centre (JEC) and his team in Sydney are working towards a fairer society, free of discrimination. Mallesons’ partnership with the JEC demonstrates our shared commitment to access to justice and opportunity and we work together on strategic litigation, policy reform, law reform submissions and fostering sector-wide collaboration. Education and training are central to our collaboration, with our organisations joining together to offer sessions on ethics and best practice in policy advocacy.
Many of our lawyers have taken part in secondments with the JEC, enabling them to benefit from training and first-hand experience of advocating for the rights of vulnerable people and working towards changing systems, one case at a time.
“I had the incredible privilege to do a pro bono secondment at the Justice and Equity Centre,” says Sarah Charak, solicitor in our Dispute Resolution Team. “What I found so inspiring and interesting about the strategic litigation team is the way they're focused on systemic outcomes. They take on test cases or strategic casework where they think there's going to be an outcome for a whole cohort of people, not just for an individual client.”
Mallesons supported the JEC to research and deliver the In Poor Health: Health care in Australian immigration detention report in 2018 and assisted with pro bono case work for individual clients. The JEC was advocating for more humane treatment of asylum seekers held in Australian immigration detention centres, with a particular focus on access to healthcare.
Migration regulations did not mandate minimum healthcare standards for people held in immigration detention, leaving many without access to life-saving treatment.
Following the report’s release, the Commonwealth Government made a commitment in March 2019 to provide antiviral therapy to people living with hepatitis C in Australian immigration detention centres.
Digging deep to seed a culture of workplace giving
Introduced 25 years ago, Mallesons’ DigDeep® program provides a way for our people to make regular, matched, pre-tax donations to selected organisations. As well as being an early adopter of the workplace giving concept, Mallesons helped provide the tax advice and advocacy that enabled workplace giving to be established in Australia.
Since inception, our firm, staff and partners have contributed more than $18 million to our community partners, with average participation in the program of around 40%. Current DigDeep® partners include The Smith Family, CARE Australia, Australian Red Cross and Opportunity International who have all been part of the program since the beginning. More recently they have been joined by many of the community partners featured in our 25 & Always stories, as well as Bush Heritage Australia, Literacy for Life and Equality Australia.
Advocacy and reform for human rights around the world
A global organisation committed to empowering women living in poverty to create pathways out of poverty for themselves, their children and communities, Opportunity International Australia is one of our longest-standing community partners. Over the last 25 years Mallesons’ support has extended beyond donations of almost $1.8 million from our DigDeep® workplace giving program.
By delivering pro bono service across their legal frameworks, governance, risk management and more we have contributed to their effectiveness and growth.
“From contract development and policy guidance to staff capability building, workplace giving initiatives and providing facilities, Mallesons’ contribution has enabled us to grow stronger and scale our impact with confidence,” says Scott Walters, Chief Executive Officer at Opportunity International Australia.
The International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD is a global human rights organisation that combines legal advocacy, data, technology, art and education to address systemic inequity.
ICAAD has been a Mallesons pro bono client since 2017, with our lawyers contributing over 1,100 hours recorded across a range of projects. This work has included research and submissions for the United Nations Universal Periodic Review process, analysis of the role of dignity across legal systems and efforts to correct harms caused by artificial intelligence to established human rights protections.
Mallesons has also sponsored ICAAD’s Advocacy Essentials program, funding 50 scholarships for advocates who might otherwise have been unable to participate. The program provides changemakers with practical skills and tools to strengthen human rights advocacy in their own communities.
“Mallesons has been an extraordinary partner to ICAAD,” says Hansdeep Singh, Co-Founder at ICAAD. “Its lawyers have brought deep expertise, intellectual curiosity and genuine commitment to our work, helping us explore difficult questions and develop new approaches to some of today’s most complex human rights challenges.”
Through this sustained partnership, Mallesons has helped strengthen international advocacy, expand access to human rights education and advance new approaches to justice across jurisdictions.
Making voices heard through democracy and due process
Through our community partnerships, Mallesons have undertaken a range of projects with the goal of giving a voice to Australians through our political and legal systems. Ben Kiely, Partner at Mallesons, played a role in a case brought by the Human Rights Law Centre to support young Australians in exercising their right to vote.
“I was involved in the 2010 High Court case of Rowe v Electoral Commissioner with the plaintiff challenging the shortening of the period for voter enrolment following an election being called,” says Ben. “Our research showed young people and those from a low socioeconomic background were more likely to be impacted by this change.”
In just 14 days the case went from commencement to judgement before a full bench at the High Court and support from Mallesons enabled the HRLC team to research, prepare and present effectively during proceedings. Following a ruling in favour of the plaintiff, 100,000 more people were able to enrol to vote.
Work with our community partner National Justice Project on the Hear Me Out complaints justice platform has helped people navigate dozens of NSW and federal complaints bodies and better understand their rights. By providing free guidance to all Australians, this AI-powered tool aims to ensure complaints are directed to the right bodies more quickly and effectively.
Mallesons supported the National Justice Project to research and resource Hear Me Out through pro bono legal assistance, with our lawyers drafting a series of fact sheets on NSW and federal complaint bodies as material for the AI tool. This initiative also supports future law reform as data from the tool can be used to inform advocacy efforts aimed at addressing the root causes of injustice. Contributing to this groundbreaking initiative demonstrates our commitment to supporting our community partners in delivering innovative, systems-level solutions that expand access to justice.
In a new initiative aimed at making it easier for people to connect with the legal help they need, Justice Connect have developed their Training AI Game (TAG) to lay the groundwork for addressing this issue at a sector-wide level. Since 2020, Mallesons’ lawyers have been supporting this project by adding annotations to legal issue language samples collected through the game. This helps the TAG project produce the legal problem data needed to train an AI natural language processing model, paving the way for future services that can increase access to legal advice by matching people with the right information and services for their issue.
Providing legal guidance to advance artists’ careers
Since 2001, Mallesons have been supporting the Arts Law Centre of Australia in providing legal advice to strengthen our creative and cultural sector. Through a shared commitment to providing expertise to those who would otherwise be unable to access legal advice, Arts Law and Mallesons have enabled artists and arts organisations to navigate legal issues including contracts, copyright, intellectual property, governance and income protection.
As a national community legal centre providing free or low‑cost legal assistance, a key focus of Arts Law’s work is supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and art centres to protect cultural and creative rights and ensure artists receive rightful recognition and income. Mallesons has supported this work across a number of Arts Law strategic projects such as Artists in the Black which provides legal support to First Nations Art Centres.
Mallesons’ lawyers also support a wide range of Arts Law clients across Australia by providing pro bono services to their Document Review Service (DRS) clinic.
“Through the DRS clinic, I have seen the empowering impact that legal advice can have for an artist or arts organisation facing a legal problem,” says Kelly Williamson, Senior Associate and Coordinator for the DRS Service at Mallesons. “It is incredibly rewarding to hear clients’ confidence grow once they are equipped with appropriate legal advice.”
Together with legal education shared directly with art centres and artists, this support for Arts Law clients enables them to better understand, protect and commercialise their work so they can enjoy flourishing careers and share their creativity more widely in the local and global arts communities.
