2019 a significant year for pro bono work

As another year draws to a close, we wanted to reflect on those members of our community who may be vulnerable or experiencing social disadvantage.

Holding Redlich has a long history of assisting people within our community who may not otherwise have access to legal representation.

And while it has been a busy year for our firm in relation to our commercial work, we are very pleased to have also maintained a significant pro bono program.

Our pro bono work focuses on assisting refugees and people seeking asylum, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Peoples, and vulnerable women and young people.

During the 2018/2019 financial we performed over 6,500 hours of pro bono work across the firm.

We are currently acting on a pro bono basis in a number of matters, including the following:

  • our Cairns office successfully helped a local resident retain ownership of her home. The long-term Cairns local faced losing her home of 21 years after a bankruptcy technicality in 2013 resulted in her paying the mortgage, rates and expenses on her property for six years - despite no longer actually legally owning it. Holding Redlich assisted in formalising ownership of the property once again
  • we are currently representing the six families of the victims of the Bourke Street murders in Melbourne at the coronial inquest. This is an extremely important legal process through which the families will be seeking answers in relation to the tragic events of January 2017
  • in Brisbane we assist in running the Homeless Persons' Legal Clinic at Brisbane Youth Service. We currently have approximately 30 lawyers volunteering with this clinic through which we provide legal advice and representation to homeless young people under the age of 25 years
  • in recent months we have been working with Refugee Legal to assist very sick refugees to access medical treatment in Australia under the Medevac Legislation. Since July we assisted 30 refugees to apply for medical transfer to Australia for urgent medical treatment
  • we have recently had the opportunity to visit Aboriginal community art centres in Hope Vale and Mossman Gorge. Our visits to these art centres have allowed us to provide pro bono legal assistance which helps the centres to support income generation and self-determination in their communities.

Our four offices are committed to continuing to provide significant pro bono support to members of our local communities in 2020.

This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.