Jilly is a leading pro bono practitioner who has directed programs in firms for over a decade. She strategically transforms pro bono practices through the development of ethically driven projects focused on both justice solutions and ghost writing for front line advocates. Jilly provides both direct legal assistance and facilitates scaled legal support.
As Gilchrist Connell’s pro bono leader and practitioner, Jilly brings her commercial and front-line experience to deliver collaborative responses that support communities facing unfairness. Jilly has both directed pro bono practices and worked as a front-line lawyer in areas of poverty law, animal rights, domestic and family violence, systemic reform and advocacy and front-line defence for children in the criminal justice system. Jilly has worked on secondment to numerous front-line community legal organisations including, Aboriginal Legal Services, PILCH NSW (Justice Connect), Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Community Legal Centres NSW and front-line homeless and women’s refugee clinics.
Jilly is a critical thinker. Her focus on justice theory, oppression and unfairness has led to her regular speaking on working with communities facing disadvantage, ethics in pro bono, conscious lawyering, the ethics of advocacy writing and the nuance of power and responding to unfairness. Jilly is committed to driving moral thinking and ethical decision making through both her matter practice and front-line response. Jilly is a recent graduate of the Fellow of Ethics, Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership.
Her law reform programs have been nominated as highly commended in the Asia Pacific Innovative Law Awards – Rule of Law and Access to Justice across 4 years and has formed the basis of strategic pro bono support across multiple firms. She was a finalist Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in the Women in Law Awards 2018. Jilly is on the board of Community Legal Centres NSW, Women’s Legal Service NSW, Transcend Australia and an advocacy advisor to Wear it Purple.
Jilly was awarded Lawyers Weekly Pro Bono Partner of the year 2023.
Jilly Field's Presentations
Awards and recognition
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