www.aar.com.au in the community Michael Rose Managing Partner CHARITIES WE HAVE PROVIDED FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO IN RECENT YEARS Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Our success as a fi rm is built on the talent and enthusiasm of our people Service, QLD and the values they bring with them from their homes and communities. Alzheimer’s Australia, VIC Awesome Arts, WA We are privileged to have gifted and motivated people who want to make a Berry Street Victoria difference, not only in the law and in business, but also in the wider Blackwood Centre for Adolescent Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, VIC community. Our charity, pro bono and environment programs are our way Development, VIC Mission Australia, WA of responding to these aspirations. Also, as a Firm, we recognise that we Blue Sky Foundation, QLD Parkinson’s Victoria have broad responsibilities – to our people, their families and the communities Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation, NSW Passages Resource Centre, WA in which they live. Cana Communities Inc, NSW Pathways Early Childhood Intervention, Cerebral Palsy League of Queensland Inc, NSW For many years now, our Firm has Education Foundation, VIC Peter McCallum Cancer Centre, VIC We recognise that Epworth Medical Foundation, VIC Prostate Cancer Foundation, VIC built close relationships with many Flat Out, VIC Rocky Bay, Inc, WA we have broad charities and has supported them Give it a Go Recreation, WA Royal Life Saving Society, WA through personal engagement, direct Learning Links, NSW Royal Women’s Hospital Foundation, VIC fi nancial support and the provision Open Family Australia, VIC SHINE for Kids Co-op, NSW responsibilities – to our of pro bono legal assistance. Our Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, VIC Teen Challenge, WA Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria The Fred Hollows Foundation, NSW & NT people, their families pro bono work is not limited to The Salvation Army, WA the charities with which we have The Smith Family, VIC and the communities continuing relationships. Through The Sydney Children’s Hospital our extensive pro bono practice, Randwick, NSW in which they live. we are able to use the talent and Technical Aid to the Disabled, NSW Victorian Foundation for the Survivors experience of our lawyers, not only of Torture for organisations and people in need, Vision Australia, VIC but also to advance the public interest and to assist in the resolution Wesley Research Institute, QLD of important legal issues. YWCA Victoria Guided by our Footprint Committee, we strive to minimise our impact on the environment. Our focus on the environment refl ects another attribute of our people, a keen eye to the future. We are proud of our charitable, pro bono and environmental activities and proud of our people who work so energetically in these areas. They work with great passion, energy and commitment and they deserve our thanks. Michael Rose Each year, a portion of the Firm’s budget is devoted to charitable projects identifi ed by the Charity Committee. The Committee is comprised of partners and staff from all our Australian offi ces. Resources are directed towards a small number of signifi cant charity projects, whether through large, well-established charities or smaller organisations operating at a local level. Our aim is to directly help those in need, and we hope that each project we support makes a real difference to our community. For more information about the Charity Committee, please contact [email protected] Sister Anne Jordan, Cana Communities With the Firm’s support, Cana provides shelter and support to homeless people in Sydney 2 3 Allens Arthur Robinson Neurology Fellowship The Allens Arthur Robinson Neurology Fellows have helped an estimated 5000 patients. Since 1999, the Firm has funded the comprehensive training of a doctor in paediatric neurology at the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick. The Fellowship enables a young doctor, selected from applicants throughout Australia and New Zealand, to work with leaders in the neurology fi eld in treating children with a variety of brain, muscle and nerve problems, including brain tumours, epilepsy, mental retardation and cerebral palsy. Although it can be confronting, Our relationship with the Sydney it is also moving and uplifting to Children’s Hospital is not limited to see fi rst hand the dedication and fi nancial support. Each year, the enthusiasm of the Hospital staff Summer Clerks in Sydney travel to and the courage of the children the Hospital to meet the Allens Arthur and their families. This annual visit Robinson Neurology Fellow and some has become a highlight of our of the patients in the neurology ward. clerkship program. This year’s Summer Clerks in Sydney were so inspired by their ‘I will always be grateful for the visit that they organised an ‘Allens Idol’ event in the offi ce to raise sponsorship of Allens Arthur money for the brave patients in the paediatric neurology ward. Robinson and the tremendous With each department nominating their ‘Idol’, the six contestants benefi t their support has given me in sang and danced to encourage donations from the crowd. A raffl e my paediatric neurology training. was held and, once nominated fundraising targets were reached, I can only hope that such a valuable different partners and, ultimately, the Firm’s Chairman, Jim Thynne, initiative continues to benefi t the gave solo performances on stage. Dr Nicholas Smith, care of children with neurological The generosity of partners and 2006 Allens Arthur staff saw a record amount raised disorders in Australia.’ for the Hospital, which will be Robinson Neurology used to establish an Allens Arthur Fellow, Sydney Children’s Robinson Neurology Nursing Hospital, Randwick Dr Nicholas Smith, 2006 Scholarship fund to allow nurses Allens Arthur Robinson Neurology Fellow, from the neurology ward to pursue Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick further studies in nursing. 4 5 Dr Annie Bye is a Senior Staff Specialist at the Sydney Children’s Hospital and an Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales. She has worked in conjunction with the Australian Association of Neurologists and the dedicated neurology consultant team at the Hospital to develop the Allens Arthur Robinson Neurology Fellowship. Annie has worked closely with each of the Fellows since the program was initiated in 1999. The Fellowship is a highly structured training program in general paediatric neurology with additional training in epilepsy and neuromuscular diseases, as well as research commitments and undergraduate lecturing. ‘It is tough and they work very, very hard,’ Annie explains. ‘They start at 8am and they work a 12-hour day. In alternate weeks, they are also on call for Emergency 24 hours a day. It is an profi le intensely challenging experience.’ Annie estimates that the Neurology Fellow consults between 15 and 20 patients each week. This means that in the nine years since the establishment of the Fellowship, the Allens Arthur Robinson Paediatric Neurology Fellows have helped an estimated 5000 patients. ‘The bottom line is not about us According to Annie, the major problem facing the fi eld of paediatric or about the doctors – it is about neurology is lack of funding. While there are government-funded training providing the best possible care for programs in adult neurology, the Allens Arthur Robinson Paediatric these children and their families. Neurology Fellowship is the only one of its kind in Australia and New It is about the Hospital and Allens Zealand. The relatively young age of the sub-specialty, combined with the Associate Professor working together. Each one of lack of governmental support, has led to critical staff shortages. Annie Annie Bye, these doctors will go on to practice travels to Brisbane twice each year Neurology Consultant, to conduct a specialised epilepsy Sydney Children’s for 30 years – that is an enormous clinic because of staff shortages in Hospital, Randwick this particular area in Queensland. contribution to this profession and To meet the current needs, and while young consultants train to fi ll to the care of sick children.’ positions in Queensland, Sydney Children’s Hospital runs this Brisbane Associate Professor Annie Bye, Neurology outreach service, bringing children to Sydney who require epilepsy surgery. Consultant, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick 6 77 National Indigenous Project – The Fred Hollows Supporting the Cerebral Palsy League of Queensland – ‘Camp Foundation Homeless – Mission Have a Chat’ Australia, WA This year, Charity Committee The Cerebral Palsy League of Queensland provides services and support members in each state agreed to Mission Australia is a community to people with cerebral palsy and related disabilities. Each year, the League set aside funds to support a national service organisation with a focus organises ‘Camp Have a Chat’ in Brisbane, which provides training and support Indigenous project: the purchase of on helping families, children, youth, to 16 non-speaking children with cerebral palsy who require the assistance of a minibus to transport children in a homeless people and communities, specialised communications equipment. Children who struggle to communicate remote Indigenous community to and as well as providing an Australia-wide can lag behind their peers both academically and socially. The Firm’s funding from preschool. Preschool education network of employment services. over the past two years has allowed the children at ‘Camp Have a Chat’, along provides disadvantaged children For the past 30 years, Mission with their parents, teachers and carers, to learn to use different communication with a foundation for improved Australia has run a special event devices and to explore methods of self-expression. Allens Arthur Robinson self esteem, social skills and called ‘Christmas Lunch in the Park’ academic performance at school. staff volunteered to run a barbecue in Perth, giving people affected This in turn helps to reduce child at ‘Camp Have a Chat’ and were by poverty, illness, addiction, homelessness, delinquency, drug delighted to be able to meet some homelessness or unemployment and alcohol addiction.