Tim McCoy Dinner & Award
Each year a dinner is held to commemorate the life and work of Tim McCoy. The Tim McCoy award is presented at each dinner to recognise the work of individuals, groups or organisations within the community law or legal aid movement.
Tim McCoy (1956-1987) was a much-loved worker in CLCs who was a tireless advocate for CLCs and their clients in areas as diverse as police powers, prisons, privacy, young people and legal aid. In his all too short CLC life, Tim was an articled clerk, volunteer, salaried solicitor and law tutor at legal centres all across Melbourne. In 1986 he spent two weeks of his leave helping establish the Hobart Legal Service. Tim was also the sole national representative of CLCs for three years.
Tim's sudden passing aged 31 was a shock and keenly felt by his friends and the CLC community. To ensure that Tim's memory and work lives on an informal trust was established that focuses its efforts on the Annual Tim McCoy Dinner, the award of the annual Tim McCoy prize to causes that Tim would have supported.
Past Guest Speakers & Award Winners
Senator Nick Xenophon and Wilma McCoy, Tim McCoy’s mother, with David Manne and Matthew Albert who accepted the 2011 Tim McCoy Award on behalf of the legal team of Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, Allens Arthur Robinson and a barristers led by Debbie Mortimer and Richard Niall in the landmark 2011 High Court cases M60 and M71.
| Guest Speaker | Award Winner | |
| 1989 | Barney Cooney | |
| 1990 | Jim Muirhead | |
| 1991 | Tim Anderson | Flemington Kensington Legal Service |
| 1992 | Geoff Eames | Refugee Advice & Casework Service |
| 1993 | Duncan Kerr | Essendon Legal Service |
| 1994 | Sharon Firebrace | Women’s Legal Resources Group |
| 1995 | Joan Kirner | Fitzroy Legal Service Western Suburbs Legal Service |
| 1996 | Noel Pearson | Federation of Community Legal Centres (Vic) |
| 1997 | Tim Costello | Western Suburbs Legal Service |
| 1998 | Jennie George | Alternative Law Journal Coburg Legal Service |
| 1999 | Rod Quantock | Amanda George (Brimbank) |
| 2000 | Rob Hulls | S11 Defence Team (c/- Fitzroy Legal Service) |
| 2001 | Ian Gray | PILCH (MV Tampa Defence Team) |
| 2002 | Gay Alcorn | PILCH (The Homeless Persons Legal Clinic) |
| 2003 | Julian Burnside | Springvale Legal Service (Corrections Group) |
| 2004 | Nicola Roxon | Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre (c/- VLA) |
| 2005 | Richard Meeran | Julian Gardner |
| 2006 | Julian Gardner | Flemington Kensington Legal Service |
| 2007 | Stephen Keim | Vicki Roach & Charandev Singh |
| 2008 | Julia Gillard | Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre |
| 2009 | Virginia Bell | Jan Pentland* (Consumer Action Law Centre) |
| 2010 | Robert Stary | Denis Nelthorpe (West Heidelberg Legal Centre) |
| 2011 | Nick Xenophon | Refugee & Immigration Legal Centre, Allens Arthur Robinson |
*Posthumous
2012 Tim McCoy Dinner
The 2012 Tim McCoy Dinner will be held at Richmond Town Hall on Friday 9 November.
