Chief Justice’s Medal for Excellence and Community Service

This annual medal, administered by the Victoria Law Foundation, will be awarded to a graduating law student who has demonstrated academic excellence in her or his legal studies and a commitment to voluntary community activity and participation.

Victoria Law Foundation actively encourages a pro bono ethic among the legal profession, and this medal acknowledges the public benefit work of law students. The medal is seen as a means of promoting those involved in voluntary work, and encouragement to those not yet involved in community work to do so.

Each Dean of Law in Victoria will be asked to nominate, by early February, one final-year student from the class of the previous year whom they consider to be most worthy of the medal. The selection panel will convene in mid February to review the candidates and determine the recipient.

The award will be in the form of a medal with a small financial prize which will not be more than $1,000. For further information please contact our Grants Manager.

Background

The Commonwealth Attorney General’s National Pro Bono Law Taskforce, chaired by Professor David Weisbrot, President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, emphasized the importance of “fostering a strong pro bono culture in Australia” commencing at law school and meaningfully supported at all levels of continuing professional practice”. The Taskforce Report (2002) highlighted the significant role of universities in encouraging and promoting “high order professional skills and a deep appreciation of ethical standards and professional responsibility”. Therefore a prize has now been instigated, namely the Chief Justice’s Victoria Law Foundation Medal for Excellence and Community Service, as a concrete expression of the commitment by law schools in Victoria to fostering a pro bono culture among students.

Before now, law schools rewarded academic performance through the award of the Supreme Court prize to the top law student at each university as well as through the award of subject prizes sponsored by publishers and others. Students who maintained a consistently high standard of academic achievement in addition to high levels of regular commitment to activities “for the public good” were not formally recognized for their achievements. The creation of this prize signals a cultural shift toward acknowledging the significance of a “pro bono ethos” for the legal profession.

By instigating this award, Victoria and in particular the Pro Bono Secretariat (Vic) has demonstrated national leadership in the implementation of a measure designed to acknowledge and promote the legal profession’s commitment to ethical values and community service. The prize encourages, supports and recognizes pro bono activities by individual law students during the course of their studies and so will have a positive and lasting impact on the thinking and approach toward public and community responsibility among the next generation of legal practitioners.

The award consists of two elements. A medal for the selected student and a cash donation of $1,000 to a ‘not for profit’ organization nominated by the student in consultation with the Foundation. There is real benefit from this award to the student, the organization that receives the donation and the legal profession as a whole. To date, law schools have not been in a position to develop this kind of prestigious prize but the Victoria Law Foundation provided a corpus to enable ongoing funding of the prize as part of its work actively encouraging a pro bono ethic among the legal profession. The Hon Justice Marilyn Warren, Chief Justice of Victoria and President of the Victoria Law Foundation says the prize recognises students with ‘excellence in academic achievement and commitment to community service throughout their law degree and thus promotes the pro bono ethos we value in the legal profession.’

If you have received excellent academic results throughout your undergraduate course and have demonstrated a commitment to community service then you are a candidate for this nomination. Please don’t delay, write to the Dean of your Law Faculty and submit your application to the Dean of your Law School for consideration.

See our Guidelines for application.

Past winners

2007 Henrietta Zeffert

Henrietta was the founding editor of Right Now as a student at the University of Melbourne. Now completing her articles at Blake Dawson, she remains actively involved in Right Now and is currently leading a new initiative, Right Now Radio. Right Now, established in 2006, is an independent, non-profit organization which publishes a free magazine featuring articles on human rights law and art work that responds to human rights themes. Right Now is Australia's first media source to focus exclusively on domestic human rights law issues. It aims to diversify human rights conversation by informing it with a diversity of voices and presenting human rights ideas through creative lenses.

Henrietta began volunteering in 2003 at the Public Interest Law Clearing House (Vic). Motivated by lectures delivered by Paula O’Brien, then co-executive director of the Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH), Henrietta undertook a PILCH internship and has since then volunteered at PILCH. "PILCH inspires and energises volunteers with its pace and its unwavering commitment to access to justice and human rights. But most of all, it is the experience of being part of the PILCH conversation, of being asked for your own ideas and views, that really leaves an impact on volunteers." Henrietta was employed as PILCH's Publications Officer during 2006, and remains on staff as the PILCH photographer (pro bono).

From the time of her initial involvement with PILCH, Henrietta also worked with other organisations in the pro bono legal sector. From 2005 to 2006, she was employed as a paralegal to the pro bono and community services coordinator at Mallesons Stephen Jaques. This position provided valuable experience in legal pro bono management and liaison with community organizations. It also led to her becoming involved in the work of the Melbourne organization Urban Seed. Urban Seed operates Credo Café, a creative space in the CBD which provides meals – and a community – to homeless and marginalized people. Henrietta leads a team of volunteers in preparing weekly Sunday night dinners for up to seventy guests.

Henrietta has been involved in the work of the Red Cross for many years. In 2003 she initiated a relationship between the Red Cross and Melbourne University’s Trinity College, where she was resident, which continues to see students involved in YConnect, a program which brings together young people from different backgrounds to volunteer in the local community. Between 2003 and 2006, Henrietta volunteered for the Red Cross Telecross program, providing support and companionship to the elderly in rural areas. Henrietta remains involved in the Victorian branch of the Red Cross’ international humanitarian law unit.

Henrietta has also been a student director of the Sudalog Project. This initiative worked with Melbourne’s Sudanese community providing practical education and integration assistance to Sudanese refugees.

Now an Articled Clerk at Blake Dawson, Henrietta looks forward to bringing community service values and a pro bono ethos to her law career, and hopes to inspire others in this.

2006 Daniel Matta

Daniel began his legal volunteer work early in his student life, joining Victoria University's 2003 pilot volunteer program (jointly run with Victoria Legal Aid and the Magistrates' Court). Whilst studying full-time at Victoria University, Daniel also provided volunteer assistance to the Family Law Assistance Program, Springvale Monash Legal Service, St Kilda Legal Service and SouthPort Legal Service. Daniel alleviated the workload of judicial officers in the Magistrates' Court, liaising with chief prosecutors and conducting research for local magistrates. As a participant in the Family Law Assistance Program, he also assisted with client interviews, reviewed case files and prepared briefs for council to secure financial assistance for financially disadvantaged clients.

Reflecting on his experiences, Daniel says "Pro Bono work was something that really gave me an opportunity to bring about change in someone else's life, whether it be a client in a car accident or a child custody case." Daniel says law students who participate in pro bono work benefit from a clearer sense of purpose whilst studying to complete their degrees, and develop a sense of place within the wider community.

PILCH was nominated as the recipient of the monetary portion ($1,000) of the prize because "It is the bridge between the community and pro bono at various law firms. I guess there's a gap that is still quite wide, and something I hope to see narrowed. Justice is something that we're all entitled to and it shouldn't always involve a fee." Daniel also thanked his mentor and supervisor Alan Ray of Springvale Monash Legal Service and Family Law Assistance Program, whom he credited as being the inspiration behind his ongoing commitment to community legal service.

Now an articled clerk with Clayton Utz, Daniel is looking forward to ongoing involvement in Pro Bono, "Part of the reason I chose Clayton Utz is because of their Community Connect program, that really stood out for me during the recruitment process." he says. "Pro Bono work is the responsibility of everyone involved in the law, including law students, as without that assistance justice would not be achievable."

2005 Eleanore Fritze

Eleanore is a Melbourne University law graduate who recently started work as an articled clerk at Victoria Legal Aid. Her substantial volunteer work and outstanding record of academic achievement (inc. runner up to the Supreme Court prize) confirm that she is a very talented young woman with a serious commitment to community service.

Her first foray into pro bono work was with the Women’s Legal Service (Victoria), where she volunteered weekly from January 2003 to July 2004, providing assistance to the solicitors in cases involving violent crime towards women, and domestic violence matters. “The experience gave me a real insight into how the justice system operates,” she says, and she was particularly affected by the impact the law has on more vulnerable sectors of the community.

Volunteering at the Women’s Legal Service, who Eleanore has nominated for the financial component of her prize, was the inspiration for her becoming more involved in community work, and her volunteer experience has been diverse. She acted as the Women’s Law Collective representative on Melbourne University’s Equal Opportunity Committee for two years, has been involved in Spare Lawyers for Refugees, and has tutored students from disadvantaged backgrounds. She also participated in the pilot of the University of Melbourne Innocence Project, which assists people who believe they have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned by listening to them and (where there is evidence to support their claim of innocence) re-investigating their cases with a view to overturning the conviction.

An area which has been of particular interest to Eleanore is the interaction between the justice system and people with mental illnesses. In 2003, she undertook a Victoria Law Foundation legal policy internship at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court where she researched specialist mental health courts in overseas jurisdictions, and drafted a proposal for a mental health list in Melbourne. At the court, Eleanore was working for Magistrate Jelena Popovic, who she cites as a strong influence: “she has a fantastic personality, is very dedicated and very inspiring”. Eleanore was able to build on her volunteer experience at the Court by volunteering two days per week with Victoria Legal Aid’s policy department from July to November in 2004. Her research centred on mental health, homelessness and the PERIN system.

2004 Kristen Smith

Ms Kristen Smith advised that Spare Lawyers for Refugees (SLFR) would be the recipient of the financial component of her prize. Kristen has worked as a volunteer for at SLFR for over three years now in addition to other volunteer work. SLFR is an advocacy and support network for people held in Australian immigration detention centres, and was established by Julian Burnside in 2001. Kristen shares the position of National Co-ordinator of SLFR with a friend, and is one of a pool of volunteers that includes more than 250 lawyers, ranging from QCs to articled clerks, as well as 40 students and several paralegals. The organisation has such a wide range of experienced, committed lawyers that in the past year there has only been one case they have been unable to assist with.

While SLFR will continue to provide legal support and representation for as long as required, the organisation is also launching a quite different initiative: Detention Remembered. This visual history project will involve trained volunteers conducting filmed interviews with former detainees, detention centre staff, counsellors, legal personnel and regular visitors to detention centres. The unedited films and complete transcripts of the interviews, which will concentrate not on experiences of persecution and flight, but on the detention itself, will be donated to public institutions across Australia. The aim of the project, which is currently seeking financial sponsorship, is to create a lasting reminder of the human consequences of Australia’s current immigration policies, and the public debate surrounding them.

Kristen Smith has made a number of enduring friendships with former detainees during her time at SLFR, and she speaks with enthusiasm about her new role as co-ordinator of Detention Remembered. Not only has she volunteered herself, Kristen has also recruited many of her classmates. According to Prof Kathy Laster, Executive Director of the Victoria Law Foundation, this was a critical factor in the decision to grant Kristen the medal, as the purpose of the award is to foster a strong pro bono ethos amongst students as they start out in their legal careers, “Kristen is a living example of how lawyers (and lawyers-to-be) can make important contributions of their own, and – like Julian Burnside himself - inspire others to do the same”.

2003 Sanya Reid Smith

The inaugural winner Ms Sanya Reid Smith advised that Oxfam Community Aid Abroad would be the recipient of the financial component of her prize. Ms Smith has shown a strong commitment to community service for many years, beginning in primary and secondary school. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oxford , a Bachelor of Science (Hons) from Monash University and has begun her law studies at Monash University and will graduate this year with her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne. Her excellent academic record includes a Rhodes scholarship from 1999-2002; member of winning teams in a number of mooting competitions and citizenship awards for community service.

Ms Smith said she intends to use her combined knowledge of the three disciplines – law, science and economics to further her goal of promoting legal, research and political initiatives to make affordable drugs and treatments available in developing countries. After qualifying as a solicitor she hopes to work in international trade law and do public sector work. Her community service activities already have included, research for Medecins sans Frontieres, an internship at the Center for International Development, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, translation work for Oxfam/Community Aid Abroad, and for the Commission for Disappearances and the Victims of Violence, and volunteer work for Amnesty International.

Guidelines for application PDF