Through the years, our local Mallesons’ teams have looked for ways to connect with local organisations and make a positive contribution to our communities. Building on these existing relationships, we established Local Community Partnerships for each of our offices in 2025. This initiative complements our national Community program and strengthens our focus on local community impact through these six partner organisations.
Our work with clinics and local community organisations is highly collaborative and we’re guided by our partners on how our resources can best meet community needs. The following stories highlight a handful of these partnerships and the difference they’re making.
Roundabout Canberra: nurturing community and family connections
From grassroots beginnings in 2018, Roundabout Canberra now partners with more than 140 local organisations and 700 social workers to distribute essential supplies, funds and donated high-quality goods to families with babies and young children.
Their team includes hundreds of volunteers working to ensure donations reach those who need them most throughout the Canberra region so children have all they need to be safe, warm and cared for.
Since 2019, our people have joined Roundabout Canberra volunteers to sort and deliver donated goods and contributed through DigDeep® workplace giving and pro bono services. In 2025, our deep connection was recognised by announcing Roundabout Canberra as our Local Community Partner for Canberra. As we continue our work together, organising goods drives, school supplies donations, fundraising appeals and volunteering days, we look forward to having more opportunities to celebrate, and contribute to, Roundabout Canberra’s work.
Lifeline Canberra: an essential service for people in crisis
Lifeline Canberra is part of the national charity that has been supporting Australians in emotional distress for more than 50 years, through round the clock crisis and suicide prevention support delivered via 13 11 14 crisis line. They are also an essential organisation in the local mental health ecosystem, supporting families and communities bereaved by suicide and providing education to build long-term community resilience.
1,000,000+ million calls answered by Lifeline Canberra in 55 years of operation
The Mallesons/Lifeline Canberra partnership goes back years and our work together has strengthened the foundations and framework of the charity through pro bono legal support, ranging from corporate governance to volunteer frameworks. This has enabled Lifeline Canberra to expand their reach and focus their time and resources on providing support to people in crisis.
Wayside Chapel: fostering compassion and connection
The guiding vision of Wayside Chapel is love over hate and it is a privilege to collaborate with, and learn from, their committed team. Their Kings Cross and Bondi centres ensure essential support is available seven days a week, helping people in need access crisis, health, welfare, social and recreational services. Providing unconditional support every day to visitors experiencing homelessness, social isolation, domestic violence and addiction, they extend a warm and compassionate welcome to everyone who walks through their doors.
Our partnership with Wayside Chapel delivers support towards essential services for people experiencing homelessness and social isolation. We provide pro bono services, financial support from our DigDeep® workplace giving program and collaborate on initiatives such as our recent Wayside Op Shop event in Sydney which raised $6,500 in one day through the donation and sale of quality pre-loved clothing.
Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS): advocating for safety, dignity, and human rights
For almost 40 years, Sydney-based Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) has provided legal support and advocacy for refugees and people seeking asylum. Founded on a shared commitment to access to justice, Mallesons’ partnership with RACS enables us to support their important work through pro bono services, grants, donations and raising awareness. By contributing additional resources, we strengthen RACS’ capacity to help people seeking asylum to better navigate complex legal and social support systems.
Since 2007, our Mallesons team have supported RACS through:
of clinic and pro bono hours
from our DigDeep® workplace giving program since 2014.
Making these contributions enables RACS to increase their capacity to provide legal support to asylum seekers.
Our work with RACS involves supporting individual cases and reform efforts for the organisation as they advocate for systemic change and fairer treatment of people seeking asylum. Our lawyers work alongside the RACS team to ensure their clients’ stories and evidence are clearly articulated. By providing clients with the legal services they need to progress their visa application, RACS and Mallesons work together to secure a safer future for people seeking asylum.
“Volunteering as part of the RACS clinic has been a very rewarding experience,” said one Mallesons team member when reflecting on her pro bono work with RACS. “We are able to make a real impact by assisting refugees to obtain protection visas.”
By learning from cases like these, our lawyers can continue strengthening the RACS team’s capacity to have lasting and positive impact in the lives of people and families seeking asylum.
LawRight: a long history of advancing access to justice, together
LawRight's Homelessness Law program operates a Community & Health Justice Partnership (CHJP) model, which embeds lawyers within frontline community and health settings to address the interconnected legal, health, and social issues experienced by people facing homelessness, financial hardship and housing insecurity.
While Mallesons has partnered with LawRight (formerly known as Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House) since 2002, work carried out by their legal team is more vital than ever. In the context of rising living costs and growing social isolation, particularly among young people, LawRight is continuously adapting to meet the growing need among young people and the complexity of issues involved. Our Mallesons team provide extra capacity across their free legal assistance work, as well as support for systemic justice reform on matters ranging from crisis relief during natural disasters to youth homelessness.
Our relationship and work together enriches the skills, experience and understanding of our lawyers. Through regular, face‑to‑face engagement and feedback from LawRight’s specialist practitioners, many of our Mallesons lawyers have had opportunities to learn directly from cases and clients’ experiences to enhance their understanding of the complex legal matters involved. During the partnership, our team has contributed 14,000+ hours to pro bono work on LawRight matters and in FY25 alone, our lawyers involved in the CHJP clinic contributed to achieving more than $400,000 in financial outcomes for LawRight clients.
Act for Kids: helping children and families heal and thrive
Based in Brisbane, Act for Kids provides evidence‑based therapy, counselling, family support and prevention programs for children, young people and families who have experienced, or are at risk of, abuse and neglect.
Through a partnership spanning several decades, Mallesons’ commitment to supporting Act for Kids has taken many forms. Contributions have included pro bono legal services, volunteering and more than $260,000 donated from our DigDeep® workplace giving program. We also create opportunities to engage our people, clients, and communities in raising awareness of the issues Act for Kids is working to address.
Act for Kids says Mallesons has become a valuable partner, providing expert legal advice and practical support to help strengthen the organisation and its capacity to deliver. "Having access to the team’s expertise for pro bono legal support enables us to focus on what matters most — supporting children and families,” says Amanda Williams, Executive Director of Fundraising, Advocacy and Marketing at Act for Kids. “Their generosity, though donations and support, in addition to in-kind expertise, has made a meaningful contribution to our work and the communities we support.”
Announcing Act for Kids as our Local Community Partner for Brisbane in 2025 continues our commitment to supporting their work in ways that can make a positive difference in the lives of children, young people and families healing from trauma.
Samaritans of Singapore: support for people in crisis and suicide prevention
Providing confidential support to people in distress and affected by suicide, Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) is a long‑established, secular, non‑profit suicide prevention organisation.
As our Local Community Partner in Singapore, Mallesons supports their work through fundraising and awareness initiatives across our firm. Walk & Talk for Mental Health is a key event in our annual calendar, and sees Mallesons’ teams raising funds towards the important work SOS carries out on the frontline of mental health.
As our partnership deepens, we are exploring volunteering and pro bono support to offer SOS capacity where they need it most, as part of our firmwide commitment to mental health and community wellbeing.
Justice Without Borders: enhancing access to legal support for migrant workers
Collaboration to amplify support is often a part of our community work at Mallesons. Through our partnership with Justice Without Borders (JWB), our people took part in a multi-stakeholder coalition to better inform JWB programs and work to support migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Singapore.
This collaborative needs assessment project explored challenges faced by Filipina and Indonesian MDWs, including their experiences of the legal system and gaps in existing legal services.
Six major law firms, two multinational organisations and eight frontline organisations worked with more than 70 MDWs to gather evidence for the project. JWB will be using these project insights to design more targeted programs to raise awareness of employment rights, support people who have experienced exploitation or abuse and empower workers to seek legal assistance, in Singapore and their home countries. This will enable JWB to have greater impact in their mission to strengthen access to justice and address systemic vulnerabilities for thousands of MDWs.
Berry Street: improving opportunities and outcomes for children and families
Based in Victoria, Berry Street is one of Australia’s largest and oldest child and family support organisations, working across a wide range of programs and services to strengthen outcomes for children, young people and families experiencing family violence, or engaging with the justice and child protection systems. Their Education Model is recognised as a world-leading methodology in trauma-informed education.
The culture at Mallesons truly walks the talk when it comes to creating social change and their generosity flows directly to the most disadvantaged children and families across Victoria.
Stacey Joson, Corporate Partnerships Manager, Berry Street
While the partnership is just getting started, Mallesons has already had the opportunity to deliver support to Berry Street through pro bono services and donations to DigDeep®. Our Melbourne office donated through our Final Working Hour Appeal, opting-in to donate the value of a final hour of work for the year to Berry Street.
Some of these donations have been put towards the Positive Memory Bank (PMB), a dedicated fund that enables children supported by Berry Street to experience everyday milestones their peers take for granted. 10-year-old Mason received PMB funding to travel from Victoria to Queensland to attend the School Sport Australia National Cross Country Championships. In a letter to Berry Street, Mason says how much he loved the experience and how proud he is to have won two national medals at the event.
Our work together also includes hosting and participating in events and panels on youth justice, crime prevention and more to raise the profile of these issues and the systemic changes needed to address them. “The commitment Mallesons has shown to building a genuine, best-practice partnership has been second to none,” says Stacey Joson, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Berry Street. “Together, we've already activated workplace giving, internal initiatives, appeals, in-kind contributions and event support.”
Working with Berry Street offers genuine opportunities for two-way learning for our people and we look forward to growing our partnership to deliver on our firmwide commitment to advancing justice and opportunity for young people.
Refugee Legal: advice and advocacy for people seeking asylum
Refugee Legal in Melbourne are focused on improving access to justice for vulnerable individuals and addressing systemic barriers within immigration and refugee protection systems. Refugee Legal provides free legal assistance to people who would otherwise be unable to access advice which aligns with our nationwide focus on providing support for unmet legal needs.
Since our partnership started in 2019, our lawyers at every level of the firm have delivered 1,800+ hours of clinic time to support Refugee Legal clients to navigate complex refugee status determination and migration processes.
Parkerville Children and Youth Care: working together to support children, young people and families in WA
Our partnership with Parkerville Children & Youth Care exemplifies the steadfast commitment of our people to supporting children, young people and families in local communities.
The relationship began with hands-on involvement from our Perth team, from fun runs and community events to Easter appeals and Christmas gift drives. Showing up year after year, our commitment has included regular donations from our DigDeep® workplace giving program.
The Parkerville team delivers a range of statewide programs — from child advocacy and therapeutic support to youth services and education pathways — designed to meet children and families where they are and offer safety, healing and connection. Announced as our Local Community Partner in 2025, we look forward to continuing to support Parkerville’s work in practical ways that keep young people connected to family, learning and community.
Street Law Centre: building relationships and breaking down barriers to legal advice
Street Law Centre meets homeless clients where they are, delivering free, trauma‑informed legal services at shelters, youth hubs and community centres across Perth and regional Western Australia.
Beginning with pro bono work and secondments in 2012, Mallesons’ partnership with Street Law Centre WA grew to include clinic work in 2017. Working alongside Street Law’s solicitors, lawyers from our Mallesons Perth team bring extra capacity to these frontline engagements. By supplementing Street Law Centre’s own resources and expertise, our people can support them in offering consistent and timely support to clients with the many legal issues that can put them at risk of homelessness or keep them there.
Working collaboratively, our team can see matters through from first contact to resolution, which builds the trust and continuity needed to overcome entrenched barriers to resolving homelessness. The relationship delivers valuable benefits to our people as they learn directly from Street Law’s deep expertise in working with people experiencing homelessness, or at risk of homelessness.
