The average number of pro bono hours per lawyer across the country has risen to 43.2, the highest average recorded and well exceeding the national benchmark of 35 hours.
The Australian Pro Bono Centre’s 19th Annual Performance Report of the National Pro Bono Target, released last week, showed a 5.1 per cent increase in pro bono legal services delivered over the past financial year.
Target signatories undertook a record 887,910 pro bono hours, with Queensland providing 123,332 of those hours, or about 14 per cent.
The 339 signatories – which represent one in every five lawyers in Australia – helped more than 15,000 individuals and more than 4500 organisations.
Signatories report annually on work that meets the centre’s national definition of “pro bono legal services”, including legal assistance to vulnerable individuals, charities, other not-for-profit organisations, social enterprises, and on issues of public interest. It also encapsulates law reform and policy work and free community legal education.
Centre CEO Gabriela Christian-Hare said that amid a period of profound transformation for the profession, the results highlighted an unwavering commitment to pro bono work.
“While pro bono legal services can never be a substitute for adequate government investment in the legal assistance sector, this report demonstrates the impact of pro bono work on the lives of thousands of Australians each year,” Ms Christian-Hare said.
Read the report here.
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