2005 Justice Awards
The 2005 Justice Awards were held on the evening of Thursday 6 October in the Strangers Dining Room at Parliament House. The Hon. Sir Anthony Mason, AC, KBE delivered the 2005 Law and Justice Address.
Winners of the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW's 2005 Justice Awards are:
2005 JUSTICE MEDAL
The pre-eminent Award, sponsored by the Foundation and presented by Foundation patron Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE for outstanding achievement in improving access to justice especially for socially and economically disadvantaged people, to
- Janet Loughman — long-term commitment as a lawyer, and a specialist children's solicitor for 14 years, Janet was National Children's Lawyer of the Year in 2000, convenor of committees, Board member and Chair of the Combined Community Centres Legal Group for over four years, recently locum director at Kingsford Legal Centre and formerly Principal Solicitor at Marrickville Legal Centre where she ran the Children's Legal Service. She supported the development of the Youth Justice Coalition and the National Youth Advocacy Network in promoting legal issues for and of children.
2005 ABORIGINAL JUSTICE AWARD
Sponsored by the Attorney General's Department for an Aboriginal person who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to improving access to justice for Aboriginal people in NSW, and presented by The Hon Bob Debus to
- Elsie Gordon — for twenty years she has worked for women and their children escaping or surviving domestic violence and/or sexual assault. Based in Dubbo, she campaigned for a women's refuge servicing the Orana and Far North West, for funding for a solicitor to help women access legal representation, helped established the Western NSW Community Legal Centre, and has been involved with programs including the Aboriginal Family Health Strategy, the Linking Women with Safety across the Communities Inc and the Aboriginal Men's Family Violence Program.
2005 LAW AND JUSTICE VOLUNTEER AWARD
Sponsored by the NSW Bar Association and presented by its President Ian Harrison SC to
- the Criminal Justice Support Network — a project of the Intellectual Disability Rights Service providing a 24/7 network of volunteers who support victims, witnesses and alleged offenders with an intellectual disability who come into contact with the courts and police. Established just over two years ago, it is based in three primary regions: Sydney Metropolitan, the Hunter, and Southern NSW.
2005 PRO BONO PARTNERSHIP AWARD
Sponsored by the National Pro Bono Resource Centre and presented by its director, John Corker, to
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques and the National Children's and Youth Law Centre - a partnership that is multi-dimensional, and multi-layered. It involves Mallesons staff on secondment to the Centre, allowing it to expand its capacity. It is innovative in its use of information technology with Mallesons staff contributing from off-site to Centre advice services, and assists with promoting the Centre, and expanding core administrative and IT functions.
2005 LAW SOCIETY PRESIDENT'S AWARD
Sponsored by The Law Society of NSW and presented by its President, John McIntyre, to
- Kevin Rodgers, Brock Partners — for accepting referrals in a wide variety of legal areas including an appeal to the ADT, a child care and protection matter, a traffic matter, a civil debt matter, an industrial matter and an immigration matter. In the past, he has also accepted criminal matters and wills and estates matters.
2005 COMBINED COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRES GROUP (CCLCG) AWARD
Sponsored by the CCLCG and presented by its Chair, Michelle Jones, to
- Jennifer Burn — is a lecturer at UTS, director of the UTS Community Law Centre, initiated the UTS Anti-Slavery project (2004) providing legal representation to victims of human trafficking, was formerly Principal Solicitor at the Immigration Advice and Rights centre (2001-2) where she stills volunteers, and co-authored The Immigration Kit, a plain-English guide to immigration law.
2005 LIAC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Sponsored by the Legal Information Access Centre (LIAC) and presented by Richard Fisher, Member, LIAC Advisory Board to
- Clarence Regional Library — for 2005 Law Week activities including a Legal Information Forum at the Grafton Civic Centre attended by 130 legal studies students from local high schoolsand
- Tamworth City Library — for its Law & Business 'Living Room', a distinct zone in the library containing LIAC resources in all formats.
