Everyday Justice: Mills Oakley's Charitable Law Firm Serving the 'Missing Middle'
In the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2021, Mills Oakley launched a new charitable law firm known as Everyday Justice. The purpose of the firm was to provide free legal advice to the growing number of people in the ’missing middle’: low to moderate income earners in Australia who are ineligible for means-tested Legal Aid services but are unable to afford a private lawyer without incurring substantial financial hardship.
Everyday Justice was established as a public company limited by guarantee and is registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission. After a long-standing partnership with Australia’s first ever social enterprise law firm Salvos Legal and sister law firm Salvos Legal Humanitarian, Mills Oakley felt confident that the most suitable and impactful way to increase its pro bono footprint was to establish a separate, full-time free legal service that could assist as many vulnerable people as possible in the community.
To date, Everyday Justice has completed over 18,080 pro bono hours and helped over 800 clients in need of free legal assistance. Its highest areas of demand have been in tenancy (19%), employment law (13%) and credit and debt (13%).
Amy Burton is the Managing Lawyer of Everyday Justice. Prior to joining the team, she was a Senior Associate at Salvos Legal Humanitarian, where she provided pro bono legal representation to vulnerable clients in a range of practice areas. In 2017, Amy was awarded ‘Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year’ at the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards. In 2018, she was awarded a John Monash Scholarship, which gave her the opportunity to undertake her Masters of Law at Georgetown University in Washington DC, where she focused on researching practical strategies to improve access to justice for the ‘missing middle’.
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