Community

Thomson Playford Cutlers is committed to making a positive difference to society and we take our corporate social responsibility (CSR) seriously, with our pro bono initiative and community involvement. We also take an environmentally conscious approach to the way we operate our business.

Pro Bono

Thomson Playford Cutlers has long been committed to the principle of pro bono for the public good. We encourage our people to contribute their time to provide quality legal services to individuals or organisations with a genuine inability to pay and who represent a worthwhile cause. We approach pro bono matters with the same degree of respect and diligence as fee-generating legal services.

Along with the positive effect pro bono service has on our communities, our lawyers are exposed to experiences and areas of law, procedures and clients that often are not available in our day-to-day work. This results in enhanced professional development and personal satisfaction opportunities for our people - a win-win scenario for communities, our clients, and our firm.

In order to recognise and formalise the pro bono work currently being undertaken by us, we have recently implemented a firm-wide pro bono policy. A committee has been established to receive and approve applications for pro bono assistance, allocate pro bono work and to develop the pro bono practice.

The firm has recently partnered with The Public Interest Law Clearing House ('PILCH'), which is an independent not for profit legal referral service. PILCH seeks to meet the legal needs of community groups, not for profit organisations and individuals from disadvantaged or marginalised backgrounds. It acts as a facilitator for the community to access pro bono legal assistance from the private legal profession.

In 2007, the firm jointly won the Premier's Business Award in Volunteering. The award acknowledges our work in providing free legal advice to homeless people in Adelaide.

Our lawyers attend the Housing Legal Clinic run by Welfare Rights Centre (SA) Inc every Wednesday to provide free legal advice to the homeless people who visit the Byron Place community centre. The issues that the lawyers face are very varied, and range from tenancy problems, traffic fines, unpaid fines, guardianship issues and matters relating to debt.

Our pro bono practice committee is led by Partner, Adam Pope.