Addressing unmet needs for legal advice and wellbeing support is fundamental to our purpose for the Mallesons Community program. Our intentional and strategic approach to improving access to justice and making more possible can only happen when we are led by the expertise and understanding our community partners have developed through their day-to-day work and research.
We collaborate with community partners who share our commitment to working at an individual, community and systems level to remove barriers and make progress towards a fairer society and legal system. By establishing shared goals for our community partnerships and following their guidance we earn their trust which enables us to advance access to justice and opportunity, together.
Our community partner collaborations span a range of activities, including pro bono legal services, fundraising and volunteering. The partnership stories below represent a cross section of some of the issues our people at Mallesons care about, including mental health, a more inclusive legal system and society, homelessness, crisis relief and a thriving arts sector.
Advancing access to justice for young Australians
Through a range of projects and initiatives Youth Law Australia (YLA) - formerly the National Children’s & Youth Law Centre - and Mallesons have worked together for over 20 years to support young Australians when they engage with our justice system.
“Our partnership with Mallesons has evolved from a promising collaboration into one of our most strategic and enduring relationships,” says Kim Richardson, Principal Solicitor at YLA. “What began as a shared commitment to improving young people’s access to justice has grown into a structured, multi‑year partnership grounded in trust, innovation and shared purpose.”
In 2007, Mallesons, Telstra and YLA launched a pilot project providing written legal advice through an online platform. With lawyers from ASIC joining the Cyberlaw initiative in 2010, the original team of around 20 volunteers expanded to offer a nationwide program across all major Australian cities.
“The Cyberlaw Project has grown into a national, technology‑enabled model that allows YLA to deliver high‑quality, youth‑centred legal assistance at scale,” says Kim. “Mallesons’ leadership brought others into the model to strengthen its reach, diversity and sustainability. The service can now draw on diverse expertise to support young people across a wide range of legal issues, including family, safety, education, employment, tenancy, consumer rights and digital environments.”
Collaborating on research and advocacy for law reform has been another important outcome of our partnership. Mallesons contributed to the Listen to Children Report published in 2011 by the Child Rights Taskforce, a collaboration between YLA and UNICEF Australia. As one of around 40 Mallesons lawyers who have worked on secondment with YLA, Special Counsel Stephanie Puris contributed to the report and went on to become Mallesons’ National Volunteer Coordinator for the Cyberlaw Clinic.
Alongside these progressive initiatives, working with YLA’s community legal centre team enabled Stephanie to recognise the barriers many young people encounter when they need legal support.
“Geographic isolation, lack of awareness about rights and systemic gaps in support services can all stand in the way of access to justice,” says Stephanie. “My work on secondment helped ensure vulnerable young people received timely and accurate advice and information.”
Stephanie’s experience highlights training and knowledge-sharing as a valuable element of the YLA/Mallesons partnership which equips our lawyers with valuable skills in youth-centric, trauma-informed and rights-based legal practice.
Shining a light on complex mental health
Founded in the 1980s, SANE is a leading national organisation supporting people and families facing complex mental health issues, destigmatising complex mental health, and addressing mental health inequity through systemic change.
“Our founders, Anne Devison and Mark Leggett, had people in their families living with complex mental health,” says Rachel Green, Chief Executive for SANE Australia. “In Australia there's anywhere from 2 and a half million or more families and individuals dealing with something much more complicated than a spell of depression or anxiety and these people have a much harder time accessing help and support. SANE was formed to try and change that. We exist to provide support to those people and families and advocate for a better system to reduce inequity in mental health.”
Mallesons’ partnership with SANE formally began when they joined the DigDeep® workplace giving program in 2005. In the 20 years since, our firm has donated over $660,000 to SANE, and our partnership has grown to include fundraising appeals, pro bono legal services, awareness-building initiatives and community connection.
Our annual Walk & Talk for Mental Health fundraising appeal builds awareness of the role of mental health and wellbeing in workplaces. In 2026, 483 participants joined together to walk 27 million steps, raise $21,000 and celebrate the impact of SANE’s work. This event sparks important opportunities for our people to connect and talk about complex mental health and take action to support our community partners.
Through our pro bono work, we continue to support SANE across their work to tackle the stigma and barriers that exist around complex mental health.
“We want to see a future where anyone who's facing complex mental health challenges can comfortably disclose what's happening in a safe way,” says Rachel.
A partnership addressing legal barriers to housing
Since 2001, Justice Connect (formerly the Public Interest Law Clearing House) and Mallesons have worked in partnership through the Melbourne-based Homeless Law program to support Victorians experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, while challenging and changing unfair and harmful laws. Our partnership is one of several where we contribute to improving housing outcomes across multiple locations, including Redfern Legal Centre in Sydney, LawRight in Brisbane and Street Law Centre in Perth.
The Justice Connect approach is focused on early intervention and collecting evidence to support systemic change and improve housing justice outcomes. Mallesons provide support to Justice Connect across both these goals, and provide guidance on legal aspects of risk and governance to help their organisation remain resilient as it continues to grow.
According to Paula Hughes, Head of Community Programs at Justice Connect, demand for their on-the-ground legal advice is on the rise.
“The housing crisis and rising cost of living are pushing more people towards crisis,” she says. “For renters already under pressure, one unresolved legal problem can be enough to put their housing at risk, making early support more important than ever. Mallesons lawyers play a critical role in helping us reach people at risk of homelessness earlier to stop legal problems from escalating into crisis.”
Since 2001 Justice Connect and Mallesons have worked together on 62,000+ hours of pro bono service, keeping 95% of tenant clients in their homes.
In FY26 alone, Homeless Law prevented 338 evictions into homelessness, the highest annual figure in the program’s history.
Playing that role could mean conducting intake calls, drafting legal submissions to prevent evictions, advising on housing issues and consumer debt matters, or collaborating with the client’s non-legal support providers. As Sally Kenyon, Senior Lawyer at Justice Connect points out, the range of support the partnership provides goes beyond legal advice. “Many clients are dealing with housing insecurity at the same time as family violence, financial stress, health issues, or other forms of hardship,” she says. “Clients are not just getting legal advice. They are getting careful, practical, wraparound support from specialists.”
Paula and the Justice Connect team have always been impressed with how committed Mallesons are in supporting our lawyers with this opportunity to develop and expand their skills. “When junior lawyers are properly supported, they can build skills, develop confidence, and become strong advocates standing alongside their clients,” says Paula. “It helps make sure the firm can continue delivering high-quality pro bono support for years to come.”
Mallesons solicitor Jack Polis is one of many team members who view their work with Justice Connect as a valuable part of their law career. “Being part of the resolution of a long running, complex tenancy matter as part of the Homeless Law Clinic has been one of the most significant experiences of my professional life,” he says. “It impressed on me the importance of considered advice, even in difficult circumstances, to allow clients to engage with the legal system in a more therapeutic way that addresses underlying concerns beyond specific legal issues.”
Strategic guidance and generosity for crisis relief
Going back almost 40 years, our relationship with Australian Red Cross is one of the longest continuous partnerships in the history of our community work. Landmark moments include legal advice provided following the 2013 Tasmanian bush fires. Having collected substantial donations for affected communities in the wake of this natural disaster, Australian Red Cross worked with Mallesons to develop the governance and tax framework needed to distribute funds to those in need.
“Mallesons’ long-standing partnership with Australian Red Cross is a powerful example of how pro bono and legal expertise can drive meaningful community impact,” says Noni Clarkson, Chief Legal Officer at Australian Red Cross. “This work demonstrates the profound difference that dedicated, value-driven legal support can make in helping communities build resilience, respond to and recover from crises.”
In response to the more recent 2019/20 bushfires, Mallesons raised $462,000 for Australian Red Cross through our DigDeep® workplace giving program, contributing to our total of $1.38m donated to the charity since 2001. Our teams also provided responsive pro bono advice to support Australian Red Cross in delivering immediate relief to the communities dealing with severe impacts from the Black Summer fires.
“Mallesons’ support was incredible,” says Noni. “Always available at short notice, providing practical, responsive advice that enabled us to distribute critical funding to impacted communities when it was needed most and offering invaluable tax guidance during a time of immense pressure.”
