Being part of a network that makes a significant difference to the lives of Australian people is what motivates the team at Prolegis Lawyers.

Set up in 2001 by former Mallesons Stephen Jaques and Allens Arthur Robinson lawyer Anne Robinson, Prolegis is a small and unique incorporated legal practice which provides advice solely for charities and not-for-profit (NFP) organisations.

Through her top-tier experience and membership on the boards of NFP organisations for the last 25 years, Robinson noticed that something was missing from the traditional pro bono programs offered by larger Australian firms and sought to fill the gap.

"The downside of [the traditional pro bono programs] is that you just don't have the same motivation to develop expertise and commitment to the quality of work…Our model is we build expertise by doing [not-for-profit work] exclusively. That's all we do," Robinson explains. "We act for every sort of charity you can imagine."

As the only specialist firm of its kind in Australia, the Prolegis model involves a commitment to keeping costs as low as possible - a valuable promise in a cost-conscious industry which survives mainly on passion. And it's the firm's cost structure, according to Robinson, which enables it to make such promises that larger firms can't.

"It's hard for the big firms because their cost structure is very different…a lot of start-ups are quite modest so we can afford to [help them] whereas [the big firms] can't afford to do that. So we're really addressing a wide-ranging market as there are a lot of start-ups who need advice on how to enter into the charities sphere," she says.

Since its inception in 2001, Prolegis has steadily developed from the early days of Robinson's home office, attracting a diverse group of lawyers with various backgrounds including a taxation specialist, mergers and acquisitions expertise and experience in child protection law.

With five full-time lawyers and three paralegals, Robinson says the Prolegis team "has a ball" working in an area that is particularly rewarding, but by no means easy.

"We love what we do," she says, "but it's not actually that easy. What's hard is you're dealing with people all the time who are passionate about their cause [but] the issue of receiving payment for it is always a big one."

Outweighing those difficulties, says Robinson, is the opportunity to work with tremendously passionate and sophisticated organisations and to be a part of something that makes a difference to peoples' lives.

"What's really grounding about what we do is yes, we facilitate something and we do our best to get a really good outcome, but really the best work we do is invisible."

- Briana Everett

>> Read more about the lawyers leading their firms through innovation and ideas in our Firm Profiles series