HopgoodGanim Lawyers is using its legal expertise, platform, and profile to deliver impact and outcomes through pro bono legal services, with Leanne Collingburn to become its inaugural Pro Bono Partner, effective 1 January 2023.
Leanne joined HopgoodGanim early in 2022 as its first Head of Pro Bono, and her appointment to Partner reflects the firm’s commitment to investing in the communities it serves.
“HopgoodGanim is committed to giving back to the communities we have served as a legal firm for close to five decades,” said Managing Partner Bruce Humphrys.
“Under Leanne’s leadership, our Pro Bono practice will continue to enable us to connect and use our legal expertise to support positive outcomes and change for individuals and the broader community.”
Leanne is a leading pro bono lawyer, social impact and human rights advocate with considerable experience in pro bono practice management and social impact programs. She has been practising exclusively in pro bono since 2014. Further to her work at HopgoodGanim, she is a Management Committee Member of Caxton Legal Centre and served on the Board of the Australian Pro Bono Centre from 2017 to 2022.
“I am delighted to be appointed Partner and look forward to continuing to deliver impact and outcomes for positive social and environmental change through our pro bono program,” she said.
“I am proud of the investment HopgoodGanim has made in pro bono. Since launching our pro bono impact strategy in May 2022, we have worked with an amazing group of external partners and promoters, as well as individual clients, to deliver outcomes across our three pro bono priority areas of working with First Nations communities, mitigating the impact of environmental disasters, and reducing domestic and family violence.
“Importantly, it is not the ‘business case’ that drives pro bono at HopgoodGanim, but the people.
“HopgoodGanim’s culture of giving runs deep and I have been overwhelmed with the firm’s generosity and authenticity.”
HopgoodGanim has a long history of working with victims and survivors of domestic and family violence and is focused on prevention, empowerment, increased access to justice and perpetrator accountability. In 2022, in addition to assisting a number of individuals, charities and not-for-profits, the firm has contributed a number of submissions to state and federal government consultations on domestic and family violence, including coercive control.
During National Water Week, HopgoodGanim partnered with Caxton Legal Centre for a Justice in Focus: Water Stories Series, exploring First Nations leadership and responses to environmental disasters and climate change in Australia. Together with Caxton Legal Centre team members, Leanne and Sarah Macoun, a Partner in HopgoodGanim Lawyers’ Planning and Environment team, led a series of thought leadership interviews with guest speakers about their unique experiences with water and severe weather events, including floods and cyclones.
Find out more about HopgoodGanim’s pro bono legal services and work raising awareness and supporting positive change for First Nations peoples, the environment and to reduce domestic and family violence.