Lawyer's pro bono effort wins City of Newcastle Service Award

Sparke Helmore lawyer Rod Smith has been awarded a City of Newcastle Service Award for his pro bono work for Renew Newcastle, a non-profit organisation that finds artistic and cultural uses for vacant or disused buildings in Newcastle's CBD.

The Awards are designed to highlight and show appreciation of service, commitment, effort and achievement that makes a difference in the lives of Novocastrians and to celebrate community participation and community spirit.

Mr Smith was presented with the Award at an extraordinary meeting of Newcastle City Council on Monday 16 November.

The Award coincides with Mr Smith’s appointment to the Renew Newcastle Board.

The Newcastle CBD has seen major redevelopment in recent years, with some areas left vacant and able to be utilised at reasonable cost by artists, cultural projects and community groups to bring new life into the city.

"The support of Sparke Helmore’s pro bono program, SHARE, was critical to get Renew Newcastle underway. In 12 months we have placed nearly 40 projects in over 25 formerly empty premises in Newcastle’s CBD including arts, craft, fashion design, sculpture, sustainable recycled art, and photographic works, providing work spaces for artists and other creative groups and bringing new life to the city," says Renew Newcastle founder and Arts commentator Marcus Westbury.

"We would not have been able to achieve this without the right legal advice from Sparke Helmore on our structure, corporate compliance, tax office endorsements and lease arrangements. Rod Smith has been outstanding both professionally and personally and will be a great asset to Renew Newcastle’s Boardroom in future," he says.

Rod Smith is co-founder and guitarist with "Firekites", an emerging indie band based in Newcastle.