Inner Melbourne Community Legal receives $100k grant from Clayton Utz

The program, Clayton Utz noted in a statement, involves imbedding a dedicated lawyer within various mental health settings to provide tailored legal services, train mental health professionals to identify and address legal needs, and develop co-designed resources to encourage help-seeking.

Furthermore, the BigLaw firm will provide IMCL with pro bono support.

Nadia Morales, the chief executive of IMCL, said: “This generous and transformative donation will allow us to implement the next iteration of our highly regarded Health Justice Partnerships (HJPs), building on years of successful collaboration between lawyers and health professionals.”

The community legal centre’s director of engagement and projects, Molly Williams, added that by addressing unmet legal needs as part of mental health recovery, the initiative seeks to not only reduce barriers to recovery but also inform broader systemic reform.

“We have a proud decade-long partnership with RMH. With its expertise in health justice partnerships and IMCL’s legal expertise, we hope to create a replicable model for other community legal centres across Australia,” she said.

The chair of the Clayton Utz Foundation, partner Marcus Davenport, said the BigLaw firm’s inaugural Access to Justice grant intends to help shift the dial on access to justice for Australians who need it most.

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“We know that for some in our community, access to justice is hindered by health, social or financial factors,” he said.

“The ‘Resolving Barriers to Recovery’ program that IMCL has established in partnership with RMH is a clear example of an initiative that seeks to help some of the most vulnerable members of our community access legal support.”

“We received many applications for our Access to Justice grant, and it’s heartening to see so many initiatives dedicated to improving access to justice for all.”