In a radical development, the Salvation Army is set to open three commercial law firms in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
Branded "Salvos Legal" the firms will offer property and transactional services for paying clients. Profits from these services (after paying market-rate staffing and other costs) will be used to fund full time teams of lawyers devoted to the Salvos' humanitarian remit. They will cover areas such as family, housing, welfare, refugee and migration law.
The project is thewild fantasy brain child of Luke Geary, a former partner of Mills Oakley and the man behind the Salvation Army's pro bono legal service, Courtyard Legal. Courtyard Legal currently survives through the goodwill of sponsors and volunteers, but Geary sees Salvos Legal as a sustainable commercial model. Not only will it be a self sufficient outfit, it won't put additional strain on the limited funds available for community legal centres or legal aid.
Geary told RollOnFriday that his main motivation was "to make sure that whenever we got money it didn't come out of someone else's intended allocation.... The capacity for outreach to the victims of injustice by Salvos Legal will far exceed the work that could ever be possible for a service... such as Courtyard Legal."
Meanwhile a couple in Berwick Victoria have been charged with theft after buying a second hand case from a Salvos store - and failing to report the $100,000 tucked neatly inside. It is not clear whether Salvos Law will be acting for or against the couple.
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Branded "Salvos Legal" the firms will offer property and transactional services for paying clients. Profits from these services (after paying market-rate staffing and other costs) will be used to fund full time teams of lawyers devoted to the Salvos' humanitarian remit. They will cover areas such as family, housing, welfare, refugee and migration law.
The project is the
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Insert legal fees here |
Geary told RollOnFriday that his main motivation was "to make sure that whenever we got money it didn't come out of someone else's intended allocation.... The capacity for outreach to the victims of injustice by Salvos Legal will far exceed the work that could ever be possible for a service... such as Courtyard Legal."
Meanwhile a couple in Berwick Victoria have been charged with theft after buying a second hand case from a Salvos store - and failing to report the $100,000 tucked neatly inside. It is not clear whether Salvos Law will be acting for or against the couple.