Presented at this year's Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) Legal Awards, the special President's Honorary Award recognised the extraordinary contribution of an entire team of lawyers from the Refugee Immigration Legal Centre (RILC), Victorian Bar and Allens Arthur Robinson.

"This team of lawyers devoted countless hours to fighting for the legal rights of asylum seekers and have possibly changed the course of Australian history as a result," said LIV president Caroline Counsel.

The team included David Manne, Shelley Burchfield, Malvina Hagedorn and Adrienne Anderson from the RILC; Debbie Mortimer SC, Richard Niall SC, Kristen Walker, Elizabeth Bennett and Matthew Albert from the Victorian Bar; and Malcolm Stephens, Claire Forster, Rebecca Kelton and Tom Prince from Allens.