In line with our Global Diversity and Inclusion strategy, HSF is committed to improving gender equity in the workplace and broader society and promoting a culture of inclusion and respect for people identifying as LGBT+.
This ethos is particularly reflected in our pro bono practice. HSF continues to provide pro bono assistance to a wide range of not-for-profit organisations focused on advancing gender equity and LGBT+ rights and inclusion.
APAC
Our firm has a long history of providing pro bono support to victim-survivors of family violence and the organisations that work to prevent family violence. This includes:
- supporting clients of The Shopfront Youth Legal Centre, very many of whom have experienced family violence and other forms of trauma or abuse;
- partnering with Community Legal Centres to run free legal clinics;
- conducting research to inform law reform and policy work;
- advising frontline not-for-profits on their in-house legal issues; and
- providing pro bono secondments to organisations that assist those impacted by family violence.
HSF has been operating The Shopfront Youth Legal Centre since 1993. Located in inner Sydney, The Shopfront is a free legal service for homeless and disadvantaged young people aged 25 and under, which we operate in association with Mission Australia and the Salvation Army.
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Examples of our work to support victim-survivors of domestic violence include: Sydney In Sydney, we support Kingsford Legal Centre (KLC), which runs a state-wide Sexual Harassment Legal Service and advocates for women who experience family violence and sexual assault.
Brisbane In Brisbane we partner with LawRight to provide free legal advice at the Anglicare Women’s Shelter, which provides crisis and medium-term accommodation for women experiencing homelessness, many of whom have experienced family violence. We have also contributed to LawRight’s law reform and policy work to improve Queensland’s compensation scheme for victims of family violence and other crimes. Melbourne In Melbourne, we partner with Justice Connect to run the Women’s Homelessness Prevention Project, which specialises in keeping women and children safely housed through wrap-around legal, housing and social work. 83% of clients have experienced family violence. Over the 2014-2024 decade, this program has;
We also offer pro bono secondments to the Homeless Law team at Justice Connect. Secondees assist with casework, as well as law reform and policy work focused on safer housing for women who have experienced family violence. We support Inner Melbourne Community Legal (IMCL) with its Health Justice Partnership with the Royal Women’s Hospital. Our secondee lawyers to IMCL often dedicate a significant portion of their time to supporting women in family violence matters. Over the years, we have contributed to various law reform and policy projects, including:
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We are working with the Refugee Advice and Casework Service to provide pro bono support to people applying for protection visas who fear persecution in their home country based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and/or sex characteristics. This new clinic aims to address the barriers that many LGBTQI+ individuals face during the asylum process in Australia.
We worked with Equality Australia to challenge the framing and omission of questions about gender identity, sexual orientation and intersex variation in the Australian Census.
Following a successful conciliation at the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Australian Bureau of Statistics issued a historic statement of regret acknowledging the hurt and distress caused to the LGBT+ community.
However, a year later, the Federal Government unexpectedly announced that it would not include proposed new questions on gender and sexual orientation in the next Census. In response, Equality Australia launched an intensive advocacy campaign, and the Government subsequently committed to include questions that will count LGBT+ people.
We are proud to have assisted Equality Australia in achieving this significant outcome. We continue to support Equality Australia as they work to ensure equal representation for the entire LGBT+ community, including people with variations of sex characteristics.
“We thank Equality Australia for the opportunity to support them on this important matter. HSF is proud of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and our history of contributing to LGBT+ inclusion. The census is a critical driver of public policy and the complaints raised important legal and public policy issues.”
Bianca Janovic, Pro Bono Counsel
- Our specialist Charity Law team has been instrumental in supporting the work of organisations focused on advancing gender equity and LGBT+ rights and inclusion, by assisting with their registration as charities.
- Our employment lawyers assisted with Circle Green Community Legal’s Workplace Research Project. This work included presenting on sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination, and providing quarterly updates on relevant changes to legislation and noteworthy new decisions relating to these matters.
- Teams across the APAC region regularly provide advice to LGBT+ and gender equity focused charities, covering the full gamut of our firm’s practice areas. This pro bono support allows our charity clients to focus their resources on supporting the communities they serve.
UK & EMEA
The LGBTQ+ Law Clinic, is one of the only services in the United Kingdom that provides free legal advice to the LGBTQ+ community. With help from volunteer lawyers and law firms, the clinic is able to provide many of the most vulnerable in society with qualified and professional legal advice and representation. The clinic provides advice on a range of issues, including discrimination, immigration, employment, housing, defamation, gender recognition and family law. We have advised on a range of matters relating to sexual orientation discrimination claims against schools; employment matters involving homophobic and transphobic discrimination, and acted for a small organisation supporting LGBT+ fertility.
The Human Dignity Trust (HDT) works globally to support strategic litigation to challenge laws that persecute people on the basis of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Working with local activists and lawyers in countries where private consensual sexual activity between adults of the same sex is criminalised HDT seeks to bring national criminal laws in line with international human rights obligations.
We have supported HDT in multiple lawsuits challenging anti-sodomy laws, including the successful six-year battle which challenged such laws in Belize and the successful challenge in Mauritius, in which such laws were found to be unconstitutional. Lawyers from across our global network have also produced cross-jurisdictional research into the landscape for Hate Crime legislation, to support HDT in identifying areas for reform.
Senior Associate Thomas Jennings won the LawWorks 2024 award for Best Contribution by an Individual for spending over 1000 hours over the course of the last 7 years working on the HDT case which decriminalised homosexuality in Mauritius.
When nominating Tom for the award, HDT said "it is rare to find a commercial lawyer who is willing to stay involved in a multiyear project of this kind, and who also never loses sight of the centrality of the individual claimant despite the strategic nature of the litigation."
Queer Britain is the UK's first and only LGBTQ+ museum. The museum is a registered charity that aims to be a place where all people, regardless of sexuality or gender identity, can explore, celebrate, and pay respect to the influential figures and stories within LGBTQ+ history and community.
Members of our London real estate team advised Queer Britain on its lease for the museum premises, which involved detailed assessment of the lease, leading negotiations with the landlord and freeholder, and advising on potential charity tax implications in relation to VAT recovery.
Additionally, our London charities team assisted Queer Britain with the establishment of a trading subsidiary, including drafting the trading subsidiary articles of association, providing guidance on the practical steps for incorporation, and advising on the key aspects of charity law for the trustees to consider. Both these pieces of work have facilitated pivotal milestones in the charity's journey towards the opening of the museum.