Community Legal Centre

Australia has approximately 200 Community Legal Centres (CLCs). They are independent not for profit organisations aiming to advance legal–and, by extension, social and political–equality by making the law accessible to the poor and otherwise marginalised members of Australian society. One distinctive feature of CLCs that also underpins their aspiration for equal access to justice is that they provide legal advice and traditional casework for free, primarily funded by federal, state and local government. Apart from these direct client orientated services CLC workers and volunteers are also active in other, diverse, areas through which they attempt to realise systemic change. For example, they lobby for law reform, undertake test case litigation, critique police powers and behaviours, monitor prisons systems and conditions, and develop community education programs. These programs may include anything from published books and pamphlets to radio programs and conference presentations.

Ethos

Community legal centres emphasise the demystification of the law and the empowerment of communities in their relation to the law, particularly by encouraging communities to be involved in their activities.[1] For example, they often adopt constitutions mandating close consultation with the communities they serve, and insist upon harnessing the skills and expertise of ‘non-lawyers’ (e.g. social workers, administrators, or ‘everyday’ people with good communicative or special language skills) as well as lawyers. Additionally, their education programs are often preventative: that is, they aim to give people skills to solve their own problems without recourse to lawyers.

Funding

Community Legal Centres are partly funded by a complex and variable mix of state and federal government monies, offered both directly (e.g. through grants) and indirectly (e.g. through legal aid). They are also funded by the proceeds of casework. However, they rely most heavily upon the efforts and support of extensive volunteer networks. Without the willingness of both lawyers and non-lawyers to staff them without payment, they would not survive.

History

CLCs first developed in Victoria in the early 1970s, but spread quite rapidly through the other states. There are currently more than 160 CLCs in operation across Australia (Noone 2001: 132). Although from the outset they shared some similarities with the already established American and British neighbourhood law offices, in their insistence upon effecting systemic change and their largely voluntary support base they had characteristics distinct from each. They can be understood to have grown out of broader concerns for social justice that gained momentum in the 1960s and which found expression in the anti-war and women’s movements, aboriginal rights campaigns, and other pushes for far-reaching social change in both the Australian and global contexts (Chesterman 1996: 11-43). However, CLCs are a unique expression of these social justice and protest movements and do not claim particular ties to any other campaigns. Furthermore, while some CLCs have developed close links with others, centres for the most part serve their own particular geographic or special interest communities. This means that throughout their history different CLCs have usually held common platforms in only general, rather than specific, terms.

When the first Victorian CLCs were established, they were often resisted by a legal establishment that was defensive about CLCs’ criticisms of the elitism or inaccessibility of the legal professions, suspicious of CLCs’ aims and methods, and concerned about protecting profits (Chesterman 1996: 69-70, 77-83; Noone and Tomsen 2006: 73; Greenwood 1994: 3-5). However, soon after the Fraser Liberal government came to power in December 1975, some members of the wider legal profession had begun to acknowledge the importance of CLCs in improving the public’s access to the law (Chesterman 1996: 87). Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, CLCs consolidated their position in the Victorian and wider Australian legal landscape, forging (sometimes fraught) ties with different government and legal organisations (such as various state legal aid commissions).

Today, CLCs hold an established, if in funding terms sometimes precarious, place in the Victorian and wider Australian legal scene and have shaped the legal profession in various ways, although these are difficult to identify and quantify. For example, some larger Victorian law firms now permit–even encourage–employees to undertake some voluntary work, most often in the area of individual casework. This certainly testifies to wider community demands for adequate representation for all before the law, and to increasing pressures for law firms to be responsible ‘corporate citizens’, and the former development in particular may be attributed partly to the work of CLCs. However, the private legal profession has arguably been less responsive to CLCs’ attempts to bring about broader and more fundamental changes in the ways the law and lawyers operate.

Examples

CLCs are particularly varied and understanding their role in the fabric of the Australian legal system is aided by looking at some of the different examples. The examples demonstrate some of the niche area's where CLCs have evolved, often in response to a community need.

ACT

Legal Aid ACT

Legal Aid ACT was established in 1977 and provides legal information and advice to ACT residents on such issues as criminal law, family law and some civil law matters.[2]

Youth Law Centre ACT

The YLC provides free legal advice to youth aged between 12 and 25. It provides advice on many areas some of which include family law, employment and apprenticeships, criminal law and traffic offences.[3]

New South Wales

Arts Law Centre of Australia

Arts Law Centre of Australia (Arts Law) is Australia’s only national community legal centre for the arts. It provides free or low cost legal advice, education and resources to Australian artists and arts organisations across all art forms, on a wide range of arts related legal and business matters. Arts Law also has what's known as the Artists in the Black Program which delivers services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists nationally. [4]

Kingsford Legal Centre

The Kingsford Legal Centre has operated since 1981 at University of New South Wales, Kingsford as part of their Faculty of Law.

Redfern Legal Centre

The Redfern Legal Centre was the first Community Legal Centre in New South Wales and the second in Australia.[5] Redfern Legal Centre provides free, confidential legal advice and casework, delivers community legal education and engages in law reform.[6]

Northern Territory

Darwin Community Legal Service

The DCLS began in 1991 and seeks to help disadvantaged people resolve their legal problems by providing independent legal information, legal advice, legal casework and representation. The DCLS also provides community education on discrimination law, social justice and human rights.[7]

Tasmania

Hobart Community Legal Centre

The HCLC started in 1985 with the purpose to empower people, especially the socially-disadvantaged, to have full access to law and justice. It provides community information services as well as legal advice.

Queensland

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex Legal Service Inc. 

LGBTI Legal Services Inc was officially launched in 2010 by former Australian High Court Judge by The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG. LGBTI Legal Services Inc seeks to assist the Queensland LGBTI community to gain access to justice through the provision of legal and social welfare services. It also endeavours to provide community legal education activities and resources in order to increase awareness of legal rights and responsibilities for the LGBTI community in Queensland.[8]

South Australia

Central Community Legal Service

CCLS provides a generalist Legal Service and initial advice and referral to anyone who lives in the Adelaide central metropolitan area. Ongoing legal assistance is provided to people on low incomes who are not eligible for legal aid.

Victoria

Consumer Action Law Centre

The Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC) is a Melbourne based Community Legal Centre. CALC specialises in Australian Consumer Law and as well as providing legal advice and casework they provide financial counselling services.

Tenants Union Victoria

The Tenants Union Victoria (TUV) is a Melbourne based Community Legal Centre. As the name suggests, they provide specialised legal advice and casework services to residential tenants in the state of Victoria.

Western Australia

Woman's Law Centre

The Woman's Law Centre is based in Perth and provides legal advice on such areas as family law, sexual harassment and sexual assault and divorce applications.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Paula O'Brien, 'Changing Public Interest Law: Overcoming the law's barriers to social change lawyering' (2011) 32 AltLJ 80.
  2. ↑ "Legal Aid ACT - What We Do". www.legalaidact.org.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  3. ↑ User, Super. "What We Do". www.youthlawact.org.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  4. ↑ "Arts Law Website".
  5. ↑ "About Us | Redfern Legal Centre". rlc.org.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  6. ↑ "Our Services | Redfern Legal Centre". rlc.org.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  7. ↑ "Darwin Community Legal Service : Darwin, Northern Territory". www.dcls.org.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  8. ↑ "LGBTI Legal Service". www.lgbtilegalservice.org. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  9. ↑ Creative, Bam. "Home - Womens Law Centre - A community legal centre funded to provide quality legal advice, information and referral to women of Western Australia.". www.wlcwa.org.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.