Highlights - June 2010
Highlights of the NSW Legal Assistance Forum (NLAF) meeting on 9 June 2010
The work of NLAF is focussed on three strategic areas:
- Meeting community need
- Policy and law reform
- Coordination and communication
Further information on NLAF activities is available at www.nlaf.org.au.
1. Meeting Community Need
Public interest careers for law students
NLAF is in discussions with the University of NSW about ways that NLAF and UNSW can work together.
A representative of NLAF addressed students at the University of Newcastle about the work of NLAF and its member organisations.
Working group on availability of lawyers for disadvantaged people in rural regional and remote (RRR) NSW
The Law and Justice Foundation has recently completed research for the RRR working group about the availability of lawyers for disadvantaged people in RRR areas of NSW. The aim of the research was to better inform strategies to improve access to lawyers for disadvantaged people in rural and regional areas by:
- Identifying which areas of NSW are most affected by difficulties in recruiting and retaining lawyers practicing in the public sector.
- Exploring differences between areas of high and low lawyer retention in terms of potentially relevant characteristics of these areas.
- Identifying likely reasons for success or otherwise in recruitment and retention of lawyers in those areas
The final report was submitted to the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department on 8 June 2010. The RRR working group will meet on 29 July to discuss the next steps that NLAF may wish to take in response to the report.
Prisoners working group
Legal information and training subgroup
The launch of the Prisoners Legal Information Portal is scheduled to take place on 23 July 2010. The portal will provide a wide range of legal information relevant to the needs of prisoners. Material includes a stand alone version of Legal Aid NSW website, a number of chapters from the Law Handbook, LIAC Hot Topics and plain language fact sheets.
Legal needs of prisoners subgroup
A mapping document was produced that outlines who is providing outreach services at the various correctional centres, how frequently and in what form. Members of the group presented the map and facilitated a discussion at a service planning forum that was part of a one day seminar about prisoners and civil law issues organised by Legal Aid NSW. The training day was targeted at lawyers interested in undertaking legal outreach at prisoners. A tip sheet of what works when undertaking civil law outreach to prisoners was produced. The NLAF Project manager presented the mapping document and tip sheet at a workshop for RRR Community Legal Centres at the CLCNSW State Conference on 4 May 2010.
Legal information needs of newly arrived migrants and refugees
NLAF is planning to develop a catalogue that lists resources targeted at newly arrived migrants and refugees and where they can be obtained (e.g. libraries, online etc). The catalogue will include reference to resources in a variety of media including written (online and hardcopy) and audio (CD and DVD). It is envisaged that the catalogue can be used by migrant support workers and settlement workers to identify resources that may be appropriate to provide to clients. The catalogue can be promoted by NLAF through any training that NLAF members undertake with migrant support and settlement service workers. The document can also be used as a map of existing resources to highlight gaps in the provision of information or lack of appropriate resources.
2. Coordination and communication
Domestic Violence Working Group
The Domestic violence working group, in conjunction with the NSW and Australian Law Reform Commissions organised the Family Violence Forum on 10 May 2010. A significant number of representatives from the domestic violence sector attended the forum and provided input into the Family Violence Inquiry.
Employment law services
NLAF members acknowledged that there is a strong demand for employment law services. CLSD networks have consistently raised the issue of the demand for legal assistance with employment law matters.
NLAF members discussed the possibility of undertaking a project to address the issue of demand for employment law services. Legal Aid NSW is planning to convene a meeting of interested NLAF members to discuss the issue in further detail.
Legal Information Referral Forum (LIRF)
LIRF met in March 2010 and the focus of the meeting was legal training programs available for non legal service providers. The following four programs were showcased:
- Law for community workers (organised by Legal Aid NSW)
- Finding Legal Answers (organised by LIAC)
- Community Workers Legal Education Series (organised by Kingsford Legal Centre)
- Law for Non-lawyers (organised by PIAC).
Training Reference Group
The Training Reference Group met in March 2010. A representative of the Family Court of Australia made a presentation to the group about resources relating to Less Adversarial Trials including:
- Less Adversarial Trial DVD package; and
- ‘Finding a Better Way’ – publication about the Less Adversarial Trial Program.
Cooperative Legal Services Delivery Program
NLAF members discussed the issued raised in the CLSD report including:
- demand for employment law services
- sustainability of legal services in Far West NSW
- ‘hidden costs’ associated with call from mobiles to ‘freecall’ 1800 / 1300 numbers
- civil law service gaps in Mudgee and Orange
Other issues
Department of Justice and Attorney General (DJAG) Product Simplification Project
DJAG made a presentation to NLAF members about its simple products project. The project involves:
- designing products and services using plain language;
- using online and information technology to build fact sheets and forms that are responsive and interactive; and
- engaging and consulting with relevant stakeholders (including NLAF members) to identify priorities and seek input about making products user friendly.
NLAF members welcomed the initiative and the opportunity to provide input into the project.
Federal budget and funding of legal services
NLAF members reported on the details of the federal government’s 2010 budget for funding for legal services. The ALS, CLC NSW and Legal Aid NSW have all received increases in recurrent funding.
The next NLAF meeting will be on Wednesday 8 September 2010.
