A legal centre whose waiting room is the streets of Perth, and a lawyer who helps Aboriginal people with ‘a hand up, not a hand out’ are the winners of this year’s Attorney General’s Community Service Law Awards.
The awards, now in their 13th year, recognise the individual lawyer and legal practice which have done the most outstanding pro bono legal work, donating their time and legal expertise free of charge to the community.
Margie Tannock was the winner of the individual category, where the finalists were Peter Le and John Cooke.
The organisational winner was The Street Law Centre. The finalists in this category were the Consumer Credit Legal Service and the Fremantle Community Legal Centre.
As stated by Attorney General John Quigley:
“The idea of working for the public good, serving the community without the expectation of reward, resonates strongly with me.
“I am heartened to see that pro bono work continues to be done by the legal sector to a high standard and for those in greatest need.
“For the past five years, Ms Tannock has been driving the pro bono program of law firm Squire Patton Boggs.
“She has been responsible for more than 500 pro bono matters since being appointed pro bono partner in 2014, and she links in the pro bono work the firm does in WA with its global pro bono network.
“Ms Tannock is described as working tirelessly for the Western Australian community, including not for profit group Many Rivers, which has a particular interest in helping the disadvantaged, particularly Aboriginal people in remote areas, better their lives through enterprise and economic development.
“She also works with charity YouthCARE, which provides chaplaincy services throughout WA.
“I congratulate the Street Law Centre on its contribution and commitment to the WA community.
“The Street Law Centre works to support homeless people, or those at risk of becoming homeless, through the provision of specialised legal advice.
“This unique operation is an outreach service which began its work in 2011 after being established a year earlier.
“It recognises that legal practitioners, to help homeless people effectively, need to be able to resolve multiple legal issues for their clients on the spot and must be based alongside other services which assist such clients.”
