Bell Gully contributes nearly $1m to pro bono work in 2018

Bell Gully’s long-running pro bono program contributed nearly $1m worth of services in 2018.

The top firm said that 165 lawyers, including 27 partners, participated in the program, benefitting 62 pro bono clients. The firm’s 10th annual pro bono and community report said that the firm acted in 166 matters and contributed 2,350 hours to the causes it supported.

This year, the firm said that it asked its staff what matters most to them in an effort to focus the firm’s pro bono and community program. In line with the government’s Wellbeing Budget, the firm’s staff chose “children and youth” and “mental health.”

Some of the firm’s supported charities in 2018 were the Cerebral Palsy Society, which supports people with cerebral palsy; the Mid North Family Support Rape Crisis and Youth Services, which provides free counselling for children and adults who have experienced sexual assault or family violence in Northland; Full Tank, a not-for-profit motorcycle apparel charity that donates all its profits to The Movember Foundation; and Kāhui Tū Kaha, a provider of housing and mental health services in Auckland and Northland.

Bell Gully also supports Auckland City Mission, Breast Cancer Foundation NZ, Catwalk, Child Fund New Zealand, Kids Can, Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand, Shine, Make-A-Wish New Zealand, New Zealand AIDS Foundation, Surf Life Saving, and Wellington City Mission.

“This is work we are really proud of. It motivates us every day to do the best we possibly can,” said Hugh Kettle, the chairperson of Bell Gully’s pro bono committee.