Community and sustainability
Our focus on community and sustainability
Cooper Grace Ward is committed to the sustainability of our team, our community and our environment. We have a history of working in close and active partnership with our community to share the benefits of our knowledge and expertise.
We provide firm-led opportunities to contribute towards our community, such as participation in Clean Up Australia Day, Earth Hour, Club Red (blood donation), participation in charitable fun-runs and pro bono opportunities to name a few. We focus on supporting community programs that enhance and improve welfare, environmental projects and medical research.
Pro bono legal services and community support
We believe that delivering pro bono legal services to our community is our social responsibility, and we act on this responsibility in the following ways:
- National Pro Bono Target: In 2020 Cooper Grace Ward became a signatory for the National Pro Bono Target, pledging a voluntary and aspirational target of at least 35 hours of pro bono legal services per lawyer per year
- LawRight: We are a member of LawRight, which provides us with the opportunity to contribute to pro bono legal services for disadvantaged members of the community
- Project Management Day of Service: CGW proudly sponsors and provides pro bono legal services at the annual Project Management Day of Service event. This event provides an opportunity for project managers, lawyers, accountants and other professional advisers to volunteer their expertise to not-for-profit organisations who require assistance in assessing and planning projects for their organisations.
- Not-for-profit organisations: We provide pro bono legal services including business structuring and general legal advice to various not-for-profit organisations
- Community: We provide pro bono legal advice to various committees within professional bodies, industry associations and educational institutions
- Education: We provide lectures and other educational presentations to these organisations free of charge
- Free Legal Clinics: We also have several lawyers who assist in free legal clinics for homeless people and disadvantaged members of our community.
Learn more about some of the not-for-profit organisations we assist through pro bono legal services and charitable giving below
Baby Give Back
Founded by former CGW team member Carly Fradgley, Baby Give Back provides vulnerable children and their families in our community with essential baby items to support them in a safe start to life.
As a proud long-term supporter of Baby Give Back, we encourage our team to participate in packing days, and match monetary donations made by our team.
Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative
Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative (NCEC) empowers those who face exclusion from the workforce by offering social enterprise training to community start-ups and creating over 15,000 hours of long-term employment every year for people with disabilities.
CGW proudly supports NCEC with both financial and pro bono legal support.
Sisters of the Saddle
Sisters of the Saddle is a cycling charity group in Queensland. They support local charities that work with indigenous communities, domestic violence victims, and young people in need. In 2023, they collected more than $350,000 from cycling events and donated it to their charity partners Traction and Zephyr Education. CGW is proud to have assisted Sisters of the Saddle in establishing itself as a charity group, and providing a range of pro bono legal support since.
Environmental sustainability
Corporate sustainability is embedded in the way we do business at Cooper Grace Ward and we are committed to reducing our environmental footprint. We have been recognised for our efforts in reducing resource consumption and increasing the amount of recycling we do as a firm.
Below are some of the actions we have taken to reduce Cooper Grace Ward’s environmental footprint:
- implementing an environmental sustainability policy, which includes our sustainable purchasing policy
- reviewing our stationery supplies, to ensure a reduction of the range carried and an increase in the proportion of environmentally friendly products stocked, including the use of carbon neutral office paper
- reviewing our printing practices, paper usage and power usage of multi-function devices (printers and copiers)
- including environmental sustainability in our team induction program and providing regular sustainability updates to all team members
- including corporate social responsibility as an area for performance targets in all workgroup business plans
- choosing a Five Star Green Star designed building at 400 George Street where we have operated since October 2009 – the building also maintains a 5.5-Star NABERS Energy rating and a 4.5-Star NABERS Water rating
- reducing our landfill waste by providing full recycling facilities at work, including for food scraps, coffee cups, e-waste, books and general office waste
- supporting team members to use environmentally friendly transport options, including through the provision of end-of-trip facilities to support walking and cycling to work.
