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This legal team has acted pro bono in two landmark High Court cases which have upheld human rights and the rule of law.

Individually, each member of the team has also advised and acted pro bono in a significant number of other cases to promote and protect human rights.

In Plaintiff M61 v The Commonwealth & Ors (11 November 2010), the team acted on behalf of two Sri Lankan asylum seekers who arrived by boat at Christmas Island and sought to claim refugee status. In a unanimous decision, the High Court held that, despite the status of Christmas Island as an 'excised offshore place', the men were entitled to the full protection of Australian law and to procedural fairness.

In Plaintiff M70 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (31 August 2011), the team acted for two asylum seekers, including one 16 year old child, scheduled to be deported from Christmas Island to Malaysia for the processing of their refugee claims.

In a 6-1 decision, the High Court held that under the Migration Act, the government could not send asylum seekers for processing to a third country unless that country satisfied certain criteria.

In both these landmark cases, the legal team acted pro bono and ensured not only that each of these plaintiffs would have their claims for refugee status determined in Australia under Australian law, but that the fundamental tenets ofaccess to justice, procedural fairness, executive accountability and the rule of law were protected and preserved.

Law award A stylized bronze figure stands on a round base, reaching up with one arm to hold a striped sphere. Two dotted circular patterns appear in the lower right corner on a white background. Winner