Mallesons Stephen Jaques has successfully acted for two young plaintiffs, Shannen Rowe and Doug Thompson, who launched a court challenge to have the Electoral Act changed to enable more than 100,000 additional Australians to cast a ballot at the upcoming Federal election.
The full bench of the High Court handed down its majority decision today. The action challenged the constitutional validity of changes to the Act in 2006, which stopped a seven-day grace period after an election was called for voters to enrol.
The Court has awarded costs against the Commonwealth.
The Mallesons pro bono team was led by Dispute Resolution partner, Robert Cooper, backed by a team of young solicitors and graduates. Commenting on the win, Mr Cooper said: "This is a great day for the Australian democratic process. The verdict provides stronger protection of a range of basic civil and political rights in Australia.
"In terms of our own team, I am extremely proud of the calibre of work performed by our solicitors and graduates, who were working over a very short and intensive period, from issue less than a fortnight ago, to judgment by the High Court today. This is obviously a very pleasing result for our Human Rights Law Group. The team which ran the case was drawn from Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra and worked together extremely well to deliver in such a short timeframe," Mr Cooper said.
The Mallesons legal team was led by Robert Cooper (partner), supported by 8 solicitors and 8 graduates.