Our Community - Freehills Foundation

Freehills has a diverse culture in which a variety of skills and expertise provide the foundation for people to grow and develop personally and professionally. We aim to foster a community of business professionals, both within and outside the firm, who can grow their careers together while enriching the community in which we work and live.

We seek to effect change for individuals and the community through Freehills Foundation, which combines our longstanding pro bono and community programs. We believe we must try to help those in our community who need our support, but part of what we do is also to bring about change for our partners and staff. Just watch how someone’s face changes as they recount how they helped a dispossessed person achieve justice, showed a lonely person some friendship, served someone a warm meal or built a garden. Freehills Foundation is committed to making change possible.

Mindful of the impact our business actions have on the environment, we look for ways to address this through environmentally aware work practices and through supporting those organisations whose focus is on improving the environment.

We welcome you to our growing community.

Advocacy

Freehills Foundation’s core business is to provide pro bono legal assistance to individuals and organisations for matters that are in the public interest and to assist charities with our community program. Whenever the opportunity arises, we advocate for systemic change to prevent or eliminate the inequities many of our Foundation clients face. Examples of this include the work that our staff at The Shopfront Youth Legal Centre do on homelessness, charity and not-for-profit advocacy and amicus briefs.

Pro bono legal services

We recognise that our people and their legal expertise are some of the greatest resources we can bring to the work of the Foundation. Every year we assist more than 1000 clients on a pro bono basis. We take individual referrals and work with community legal organisations and through The Shopfront Youth Legal Service. Much of our work is aimed at preventing violence against women and children, working with homeless people and people experiencing mental illness, supporting not-for-profit organisations and assisting indigenous enterprises.

Volunteering in the community

Freehills Foundation also provides a vehicle for partners and staff to volunteer time, money and the other resources of a large national firm. We work closely with our community partners in Australia and internationally. Our focus is on the issues of disability, disadvantaged young people and homelessness. Internationally we also work with agencies working to minimise the aftermath of disasters and to empower disadvantaged communities.

Staff give their time and undertake a variety of activities including mentoring students, excursions with disadvantaged children, catering fundraising events and renovation projects. Freehills encourages volunteering and gives each staff member one working day a year to participate in the program.

More information

Freehills Foundation is overseen by an internal board of partners and senior staff who monitor the Foundation’s strategy, development and social impact. 

Pro bono partners, located in each of our offices, and our national pro bono counsel act as contact points for pro bono requests. 

At an operational level, each of our offices has a Community Committee. These committees consist of representatives from across that office who guide the Foundation’s activities and budget in that office.

We have been honoured by awards which publicly acknowledge Freehills’ contribution. These have included:

• BRW ANZ Private Business Awards – Excellence in Community Practices Winner – Freehills (jointly with PwC Foundation) – 2008
• AbaF Awards – New South Wales – Honouring the best private sector-arts relationships - Toyota Community Award to Company B and Freehills – 2008
• AbaF Awards – New South Wales – Honouring the best private sector-arts relationships – National Finalists for the Australia Council Arts for Young People   Award to Company B and Freehills – 2008
• AbaF Awards - Victoria – Honouring the best private sector-arts relationships – National Toyota Community Award to Company B and Freehills – 2008
• AbaF Awards – Victoria – Honouring the best private sector-arts relationships – National Australia Council Arts for Young People Award to Company B and Freehills – 2008
• Biennial Awards Ceremony and Dinner of Landcare at Parliament House, Canberra – Foundation Partner in the establishment of Landcare CarbonSmart Pty Limited to Freehills – 2008
• New South Wales Law and Justice Foundation Justice Awards – Ceremony and Dinner at Parliament House, Sydney, 2008 – Justice Medal awarded to Jane Sanders, Special Counsel and Principal Solicitor of The Shopfront Youth Legal Centre, Kings Cross (operated jointly by Freehills, The Salvation Army and Mission Australia)

Freehills partners and staff also cherish hundreds of thank you notes, letters and cards from people and organisations we have helped. The oldest we have located is dated in the 1890s, from the Widows and Orphans Society in Victoria.