Community

Russell McVeagh clearly has a great record of engagement with the wider community, and I’ve greatly appreciated the opportunity to become a part of that culture even as a summer clerk. I had the chance to participate in a pro bono session at Mangere Community Law Centre along with a more senior solicitor, which was a fantastic opportunity to put some of what I have learned at law school into practice in a real world environment, and also to give something back to the wider community.

While most of Russell McVeagh’s clients are leading commercial companies it was refreshing to see the work that the firm does among the community. While this included the standard charity drives and Movember causes I was impressed to find Russell McVeagh donates many solicitor hours to doing pro bono work at local community law centres. Personally I really enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to Lawspot, an online initiative for kiwis to receive free answers to their legal questions that was developed by a solicitor at Russell McVeagh. The summer clerks in the Wellington office were lucky enough to be involved in answering questions through this website.

I was lucky enough to be directly involved with the pro bono work that Russell McVeagh does for the SPCA. The SPCA hugely appreciates the work the firm does for them and it is a great organisation to help with. I would love to continue to be involved with this kind of work at the firm.