Community Partnerships Program

Our Community Partnership Program underpins all aspects of esg@mcr, it’s part of who we are and what we do. Through it we support and create opportunities for our people to engage with our community partners to give back and facilitate positive social change.

Our Community Partnership Program (CPP) is a framework through which we promote and embody these values, facilitating sustainable economic, social and cultural change in areas of the community most in need.

Our commitment to the communities in which we live and work enables our people to find a stronger sense of purpose and meaning in what they do. Recognising that ‘community’ means different things to different people, we strive to provide a range of options for participation including volunteering and pro bono activities, mentoring, and fundraising initiatives and events.

Pro Bono legal services

Pro bono work is a core element of our community commitment and one of the key ways in which we build deeper relationships with our communities.

We take our commitment to providing pro bono legal services seriously and have adopted a formal pro bono target as a signatory of the Australian Pro Bono Centre’s National Pro Bono Statement of Principles and Aspirational Target. We have been a signatory of this voluntary and aspirational target since 2009 and are making consistent improvements toward our target of at least 35 hours per lawyer per year.

Through our pro bono work we regularly respond to and contribute to the development of government policy affecting the not-for-profit sector and work with numerous peak bodies to support their advocacy work across a range of issues. We support a range of community legal clinics and also establish charitable entities and provide advice on tax concession endorsement, employment and industrial relations, intellectual property, privacy and property. We believe that our legal staff have a fundamental professional responsibility to conduct pro bono work as part of their everyday practice and, upholding the highest standard of service, strive to obtain positive and commercial outcomes for our pro bono clients.

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Royal Flying Doctor Service QLD Section

Since 2006, we have supported The Royal Flying Doctors Service Queensland as their legal partner, and in March of 2023, were joined by the RFDS at our Corporate event, an evening at GOMA.

During the event, attendees had the privilege of hearing from Heather Stott about the vital work that the RFDS provides across the state, providing access to primary health care and aeromedical services. We are proud to announce that throughout the night, we raised $10,550 which will support the RFDS in continuing to provide this vital service.

Maxi the lifeguard

Nurturing and supporting not for profit organisations, people and charities is a key element of our commitment to community, and one such organisation is Live Learn Survive, a project by Leigh Mason and her business partner Trent Maxwell, also better known as Maxi the Lifeguard.

Since 2020, we have provided pro bono support to Leigh Mason and Trent Maxwell who founded Live Learn Survive, advising them on a range of matters, including IP protection, commercial agreements and establishment of their charity. Our support helped them navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing Live Learn Survive to focus on expanding their footprint, and achieve their mission of teaching life-saving water and life skills to children and young adults across the globe.

We look forward to continuing our support of Leigh, Trent, and the rest of the Live Learn Survive team as they continue to educate children and families across the globe about fire and water safety in a fun and engaging way.

Affordable housing

We are privileged to partner with a diverse range of not-for-profit organisations (including many community housing providers) who make a real difference in our community, as well as sector leaders and key stakeholders. We support our clients’ vision of helping address the housing crisis across Australia through our market-leading services and deep sector knowledge to unlock and implement key initiatives.

We are at the forefront of these developments, including QHIGI and NHFIC opportunities, NDIS properties (including SDA and SIL services), and pilot build to rent projects.

For any questions on our Community Partnerships Program, please contact Kim Trajer or Louise Ferris.