More Indigenous law graduates will be able to access the support they need to make the transition to legal practice with the establishment of a new foundation by Australia's largest legal membership body.

President of the Law Society of NSW, Ronan MacSweeney, said on Thursday the new Indigenous Solicitors Foundation (ISF) will help increase First Nations representation in solicitor ranks, helping to make the profession and the justice system more accurately reflect the community they serve.

"There are now 100 fewer Indigenous solicitors in NSW than there were ten years ago. In 2014, 477 solicitors identified as First Nations representing 1.6 percent of all NSW Solicitors. However, in 2025, there were only 350 First Nations lawyers in NSW, just 0.8 percent of the profession," Mr MacSweeney said.

"At the last census, Australia's Indigenous peoples made up 3.4 percent of our population. Applied proportionally to the 45,000 solicitors in NSW, First Nations practitioners should number around 1,500.

"The Law Society of NSW is calling on law firms, practitioners, and the wider community to donate to the ISF so Indigenous law students can overcome the financial barriers that can discourage them from pursuing a life in the law."

The barriers can include Practical Legal Training which is a prerequisite to obtaining a practising certificate along with IT equipment, textbooks, legal subscriptions or professional attire for interviews.

Strong Indigenous leadership

Mr MacSweeney welcomed the leadership of the ISF Directors, globally renowned Indigenous Education advocate Professor Jack Beetson, a Ngemba man, and The Law Society's First Nations Councillor Danielle Captain-Webb, a Wiradjuri and Gomeroi woman.

Mr Beetson, founder of Literacy for Life and an Adjunct Professor at the University of New England, said he was "alarmed at the statistics showing the decline in Indigenous solicitors in NSW over the last ten years".

"The Indigenous Solicitors Foundation will make such a difference," he said.

"What we really need is a bunch of Aboriginal lawyers out there that are working in the communities, because no one will understand us more than us.

'Supporting First Nations communities and First Nations people across Australia to create change'

Ms Captain Webb, Councillor Law Society of NSW, was the first lawyer in her family.

She said that supporting the Foundation means "supporting First Nations lawyers but also, supporting First Nations communities and First Nations people across Australia to create change and to have justice and equity seen".

"I think what we want to see is a just and fair legal system that creates better outcomes for First Nations people because that's the way that we're going to see on the ground changes for First Nations communities. To think of the day where we have generations of First Nations lawyers coming from one family and how powerful that could be," she said.

The Hon. Justice Dina Yehia of the Supreme Court of NSW, founder of the Walama List, said supporters of the Foundation "can be a part of real change in increasing the representation of First Nations lawyers in the profession and ultimately at the Bar and on the bench".

"So, if the profession, including the bench, reflects the diversity of the community, then inevitably it will follow that there will be increased confidence in that system and that system will have much more authority," she said.

'An absolutely essential component of a more diverse legal profession'

Tony McAvoy SC, Trustee of the Indigenous Barristers' Trust - The Mumshirl Fund, noted "the state of our First Nations representation within the legal profession is unacceptably low, and that is as a result of not having the systems in place to support people and ensure they enter the profession and stay in the profession".

"Support for the Indigenous Solicitors Foundation is an absolutely essential component of a more diverse legal profession," he said.

"When we understand the levels of injustice that are visited upon First Nations people across the state of NSW, we know that there is much more that can be done by the legal profession to address those injustices.

'Aboriginal people are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and underrepresented in the legal profession at all levels'

Jason Behrendt; 2019 President's Medallist; Co-chair Indigenous Issues Committee, The Law Society of NSW said "even a small bit of assistance goes a long way".

"The opportunity the ... Fund represents is the immediate benefits and a long-term commitment to ensuring that there are more Aboriginal people in the legal profession," he said.

"Aboriginal people are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and underrepresented in the legal profession at all levels, from solicitors to judges. We're the only people in Australia who are made the subject of legislation. It's important that there are Aboriginal faces at all levels of our system of justice."

Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) acting chief executive Sharif Deen said the activists who established the Aboriginal Legal Service in an act of self-determination more than 50 years ago "laid the foundations for the diverse legal assistance sector that now benefits hundreds of thousands of people across the country each year".

"Our people are strong leaders, yet Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up less than one per cent of all solicitors in NSW and the ACT. Eliminating barriers to entering the legal profession is essential to ensure First Nations representation at all levels of the legal system and improve justice for our communities," he said.

ISF aims to make 'significant headway'

Mr MacSweeney said: "As this year's President of The Law Society, I'm honoured to be a Director of the ISF, serving alongside our CEO Kenneth Tickle."

"Informed by guidance and cultural authority from Ms Captain-Webb and Professor Beetson, I'm confident that the ISF will make significant headway towards bringing more Indigenous lived experience and expertise to our justice system," he said.

"I acknowledge and commend existing organisations already working on similar goals to the ISF. I encourage donors to these organisations to continue their generosity and to consider also supporting the ISF. We are also grateful for the significant pro-bono work Gilbert + Tobin provided in setting up the Foundation."

The public launch of the ISF coincides with The Law Society's event honouring NAIDOC Week 2026 and its theme, 50 years of deadly.

Mr MacSweeney said the 50th anniversary of the celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and resistance is a timely reminder that initiatives like the ISF, while welcome, are overdue.

The Foundation can receive donations online.