In a recent development, the Australian government is set to consider the level of pro bono efforts made by a law firm when assigning work. As part of a new initiative, the government will weigh the extent of voluntary, unpaid work carried out by the legal firms.
In addition to this, the government also plans to publicly list those law firms that fall short of reaching the government-established pro bono threshold. The target, as stated by Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, a member of Australia’s Labor Government, is pegged at 35 pro bono hours per year for each lawyer.
With this move, the Australian government aims to encourage more law firms to commit to pro bono work, ultimately fostering a greater sense of social responsibility amongst legal professionals.
For more detailed information on this initiative, see the full article
here.