The Barrister Assistance Team (BAT) is a program that grew out of a trial collaboration between LawRight and the UQ Pro Bono Centre in 2017. The program enables barristers undertaking pro bono or public interest matters to utilise the emerging skills and assistance of senior law students at UQ.
If you've got a pro bono brief or are working on a law reform submission, the UQ Pro Bono Centre is here to help.
Our Barrister Assistance Team is a group of pre-screened, suitable senior law students who are ready to provide pro bono research and assistance to a high standard and meet strict time deadlines.
See the Bar Assocation of Queensland's article Support For Your Pro Bono Work, written by the BAQ’s nominee on the Centre’s Advisory Board, Matt Black:
First, the students available to you through the UQ Pro Bono Centre are able to provide real assistance in your work. Their support enables you to leverage your time. The students can do things as simple as compiling briefs / e-briefs or bundles of authorities. They can draft chronologies or can index messy disclosure. They can take notes and fetch coffee during conferences. They can also deploy their education: find cases to support a legal proposition, trace the source of a poorly referenced legal point, find factually similar cases for comparison, prepare case-notes of the other side’s authorities to give you a head-start.
Read on here: https://www.hearsay.org.au/support-for-your-pro-bono-work/
Got a pro bono brief? Get in touch at probono@law.uq.edu.au to discuss.
Barristers often take on short-term, research-intensive pro bono tasks requiring them to produce high-quality work within a very limited timeframe. Only senior law students (preferably with demonstrated research experience) are encouraged to apply to join the Barrister Assistance Team.
Opportunities to assist barristers often arise within tight timeframes and require an immediate start. You should only nominate yourself for an opportunity if you are confident that you will have the capacity to provide assistance within the given timeframe. You are also encouraged to request Centre assistance (or back-up) if the task is more intensive than originally anticipated.
Applications will often be accepted or rejected on a 'first come, first served' basis. BAT callouts will come through the Pro Bono Roster:
I found [student's] work to be well-researched, on-point and delivered in a timely manner ... a direct brief .. it was great to be able to call on some additional assistance.
[Student] was wonderful. The way she structured her memo and the depth she went into was fantastic. She was also very prompt getting back to me and I could appreciate that she had put lots of excellent work and thought into what she'd done.
Given the limited instruction and turn-around time, I think [student] did a good job. Thanks again for sending [her] my way. It is pleasing to know that she has secured an associateship with a Federal Court Judge.
[Student] attended promptly, was appropriately attired and acquitted himself in a professional manner. He asked appropriate questions which reflected his knowldege of administrative law. I was quite impressed by him.