News & Views

Congratulations to AusLSA member firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth for the advice to the State of Victoria on the Renewable Energy Auction, which will deliver 928MW of new renewable generation to the state. Great legal work, but also a good outcome for the environment.

See the press release from Corrs HERE.

US legal research organisation, Acritas, recently surveyed lawyers at a number of global firms, and asked who they are more likely to work for.
Reasons like reputation, people, culture, gender equity, values, fairness, opportunity, reward were all used. No surprise that all of these are themes included in our sustainability framework!. See the article as reported by Australasian Lawyer HERE.

AusLSA member firm, Corrs have announced that they will now make superannuation contributions to employees during both paid and unpaid parental leave periods. Corrs already provides best practice level paid leave to primary and secondary carers, and the extension to include superannuation payments is another step towards achieving pay equity. See their press release HERE.

The NSW Office of Environment & Heritage (OEH) has reduced the administration fee charged for NABERS Energy tenancy and whole building ratings carried out by or on behalf of CitySwitch Signatories. Under the arrangement all CitySwitch Signatories  are eligible to claim a 50 per cent discount on the OEH administration fee, a saving of $566 including GST.

CLICK HERE to go to the CitySwitch Website to find out more.

Japanese Investment Group Daiwa Securities are using SDGs to ensure their business survival for the next 100 years. They say that "unless they are a company that is needed by society, then they cannot survive", and aim to create a business model that can positively influence and contribute to society.

By identifying finance, technology, local regeneration and poverty as key themes they will convey the company's direction to employees and stakeholders. Read their interview with 'Sustainable Brands' HERE.

Congratulations to AusLSA member firms Dentons, Baker & McKenzie and DLA Piper for being named in the 2018 Working Mother 60 List, compiled in conjunction with the US based ABA Journal. 

For 11 years, Working Mother (US) has recognised US firms who utilise best practices to retain and promote women lawyers.

Despite being based on US data, our member firms are proud to have been named and already have significant programs in place to attract, retain and advance women in their firms. See the Working Mother article HERE and be sure to see the member profiles for these firms in our 2017 report.

While reputational damage for companies who do not comply with modern slavery legislation should be sufficient impetus to encourage reporting, the Law Council of Australia will make a submission to parliamentary committee that financial penalties should also be considered. 

The LCA welcomes the requirement to report on modern slavery risks in supply chains, however believes that the proposed act should include a lower reporting threshold, financial penalties for non-compliance, an independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and a national compensation scheme for victims of Modern Slavery. See their press release HERE.

In a recent article from Australasian Lawyer, Michelle Dixon, partner and chief executive of Maddocks underlines the multitude of benefits that gender diversity brings to a firm. 

Maddocks were recently awarded an employer of choice citation for gender equality, so who better to speak on the subject. Michelle says that from Maddocks' perspective, gender diversity is both a commercial imperative and competitive advantage. Also cited in the article is Justine Rowe, general counsel of Telstra who offers a three-step plan of action. Both Michelle and Justine will be speaking at the Women in Law summit in Sydney in September. 

Click HERE to read the article.

Congratulations to our member firm, Gilbert + Tobin who have announced that their Sydney, Melbourne and Perth operations will now be purchasing carbon offsets to cover all their emissions.

G+T acknowledge that this important step reinforces their values and the importance to society and business in caring for the environment. We note that the gross emissions reported from G+T operations in AusLSA's annual reports has been decreasing over the last three years and that offsetting is their next logical progression. They will join other AusLSA firms, Clayton Utz, Allens, FB Rice and Hall and Wilcox who all reported net zero emissions in our report last year. 

See the press release from G+T HERE.

The tenth anniversary review of the National Pro Bono Target has recently been undertaken and has facilitated the Pro Bono Centre to revisit the strengths and weakness of the Target scheme.

A number of changes will be implemented from 1 July which will support pro bono growth in the future. Of significant interest, the 'Aspirational Target' remains at 35 hours per lawyer per annum, however the word 'Aspirational' has been dropped, and pro bono work undertaken for social enterprises will be eligible for inclusion towards target hours. The final report of the review can be found HERE