Gadens

Eco-art feature in the Gadens Sydney office

Gadens is an Australian law firm which operating in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide, as well as internationally in Port Moresby and Singapore.^[1] The firm has 135 partners and over 1,100 staff.^[1] Gadens was the first Australian law firm to establish a multi-disciplinary practice^[2] and is the only Australian member of the International Lawyers Network.^[3]

In 2011, BRW Magazine named Gadens "Best ASX Top 100 Provider" in its Client Choice Awards.^[4] In 2014, Asia-Pacific Banking & Finance magazine named Gadens "Law Firm of the Year".^[5]

History

Gadens was established in Sydney in 1928 by John Gaden. However, the Melbourne office had been offering legal services since 1845. In 1969, an office was opened in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, well before the country gained independence. In 2005, the company launched Gadens Galaxy systems, incorporating online programs, legal analysis and management to help with the processing of property transactions and mortgage and debt recovery transactions.^[6]

Community work

Charities

Gadens runs a community involvement program with charitable organisations including United Way^[7] and Youth Insearch ^[8] as the founding partner. The firm also provides assistance to Susu Mamas in Papua New Guinea, a non-government organisation that provides health care services and education to the local community and remote villages on infant and maternal health and nutrition.^[9] Gadens also supports the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria through its involvement with “Friends of the Global Fund Pacific”,^[10] established with the support of the Lowy Institute for International Policy. Gadens is also the honorary sponsor of the Cell And Gene Trust, a charity that supports cell and gene therapy research.^[11] Gadens helped launch the trust with pro bono work and financial support.

Environment

Since 2005 Gadens has been running greener Gadens program with the assistance of environmental consultant Guy Williams. The aim of the program is to improve environmental awareness, management and performance across the firm. In particular, objectives of the program include sourcing energy from renewable resources, switching to 100% recycled stock paper and the incorporation of energy efficient materials and design principles into their major office refurbishment. Through this program, Gadens is currently working to help establish transparent and consistent environmental performance reporting in the legal industry and have signed up as a pioneer member of Legal Green, the first national legal industry environmental benchmarking program.

Arts

Gadens has a partnership agreement with the National Art School in Darlinghurst, Sydney. The firm is represented on the Board of the Australian Business Arts Foundation. In the past Gadens ran an emerging playwright sponsorship program for emerging artist Caleb Lewis.

Australian actor John Gaden is the son of the firm's founder, who went by the same name.

References