Why work in a Community Legal Centre

VISUAL: Why work in a Community Legal Centre? Rob Hulls, Director, Centre for Innovative Justice talks about community legal centres with Liana Buchanan, Executive Officer, Federation of Community Legal Centres (Victoria). RMIT University logo.

VISUAL: Wide?angled time?lapse shot of Liana Buchanan speaking with Rob Hulls sitting on stools at a bench. There is a male operating the camera behind Liana Buchanan and another male standing wearing headphones behind Rob Hulls. They then swap positions. Two large lights on tripods are aimed down towards where Rob Hulls and Liana Buchanan are sitting. A couple of students can be seen in the background sitting in a study room and a couple of students walk through an entrance door in the background. Two male students are in the foreground, left of the screen, sitting at a table looking at laptops.

VISUAL: Rob Hulls, Director, Centre for Innovative Justice, RMIT University speaking to Liana Buchanan, who is sitting beside him but off?screen.

Rob Hulls: Well, Liana Buchanan, you are the ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan looking at, listening to and smiling at Rob Hulls as he speaks off?screen. Liana nods in agreement at the end.

Rob Hulls: ... Executive Officer with the Federation of Community Legal Centres. First of all ...

Rob Hulls speaking to Liana Buchanan, who is sitting beside him but off?screen. (The RMIT title appears on the bottom of screen again ie Director, Centre for Innovative Justice, RMIT University).

Rob Hulls: ... just explain what that job entails.

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan, Executive Officer, Federation of Community Legal Centres (Victoria) speaking to Rob Hulls who is sitting beside her but off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: So, the Federation is the peak body for Community Legal Centres in Victoria. We've got a really healthy, strong community legal sector, here, in this state, so we have 50 community legal centres. So my job, with the rest of the Federation, is to represent those centres and also to help those centres to work to improve fairness in Victoria by changing laws and improving practices.

VISUAL: Rob Hulls speaking to Liana Buchanan, who is off?screen.

Rob Hulls: So what is a community legal centre?

Liana Buchanan: So community legal centres are ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: ... not?for?profit organisations that provide free legal help to people who can't afford a lawyer and who can't get legal aid. So they're really an important last resort for people who can't get legal help ...

VISUAL: Rob Hulls looking at and listening to Liana Buchanan who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: ... with their problems from any other place. The other important thing about ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: ... community legal centres, though, is that as well as providing help to individuals, they also try and prevent legal problems in the first place. So they do lots ...

VISUAL: Rob Hulls looking at, listening to Liana Buchanan who is off?screen. He nods his head in agreement.

Liana Buchanan: ... of community legal education and community education ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: ... community engagement so they try and work out what kind of information people need, make sure that they're informed about the law so they don't get into strife and also try and make sure people know their rights.

VISUAL: Rob Hulls speaking to Liana Buchanan who is off?screen.

Rob Hulls: And what sort of law do lawyers at community legal centres actually get involved in? Is it just criminal law or all sorts of law?

Liana Buchanan: There's a really broad range. So, in fact ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: ... across the whole of the 50 community legal centres, only 7% of the work that we do is criminal law. So most of it is ...

VISUAL: Rob Hulls looking at, listening to Liana Buchanan who is off?screen. He nods his head in agreement.

Liana Buchanan: ... family law and civil law.

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: A large proportion is in family violence; so one in every three cases opened in a community legal centre is where they're helping someone who's experienced family violence. And civil law covers, again, a really broad range; so poverty law practice, credit and debt ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan with her back to the camera speaking with Rob Hulls who is front?on to the camera.

Liana Buchanan: ... consumer protections, helping people who've been exploited by payday ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: ... lenders, eviction, tenancy, there's a whole raft of those kinds of areas and those are really the areas that community legal centres are expert in.

VISUAL: Rob Hull, front-on to camera, speaking with Liana Buchanan who has her back to the camera.

Rob Hulls: Okay, so for all those students who are studying very hard in their law courses, coming to the end of the law course or maybe just starting off ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan looking at and listening to Rob Hulls as he speaks off?screen. Liana nods in agreement.

Rob Hulls: ... why would they decide to go and work in a community legal centre ...

VISUAL: Rob Hull, front-on to camera, speaking with Liana Buchanan who has her back to the camera.

Rob Hulls: ... rather than try and make the big bucks at the top?end of town?

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: Well, I think, in part, you just referenced it; we spend a lot of our time at work during our adult lives, right? So you can go and make the big bucks for yourself or you can work really hard to make big bucks for your bosses or maybe your clients or you can go and try and make a difference. And really that's where it ... where the big win is for community legal centres; you know when you go and work in a community legal centre that you're making a difference. You're making a difference for the individuals that you help. You're also making a difference because part of your work is trying to make the system fairer.

VISUAL: Rob Hulls speaking to Liana Buchanan who is off?screen.

Rob Hulls: And how do students, actually, before they get qualified, get involved in a community legal centre? Can they volunteer at any community legal centre?

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: Absolutely; so there are many, many volunteers right across the community legal sector working now and lots of those are students.

VISUAL: Wide?angled shot of Liana Buchanan speaking with Rob Hulls sitting on stools at a bench. There is a male operating the camera behind Liana Buchanan and another male standing behind Rob Hulls. A couple of students can be seen in the background sitting in a study room and a couple of students walk through an entrance door in the background. Another male student is in the foreground to the left of the screen, sitting at a table looking at his laptop.

Liana Buchanan: Some universities have clinical legal education components ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: ... so students can do some work in community legal centres as part of their study.

VISUAL: Rob Hulls looking at, listening to Liana Buchanan who is off?screen. He nods his head in agreement.

Liana Buchanan: But separate to that, anyone who's interested ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan speaking to Rob Hulls who is off?screen.

Liana Buchanan: ... in social justice or in working in a community legal centre should call their local community legal centre, find out if they take volunteers, find out what kind of work they'd be able to do, put their name down because sometimes there's a waiting list but absolutely, there's lots of work for volunteers to do.

VISUAL: Rob Hulls speaking to Liana Buchanan who is off?screen.

Rob Hulls: Well, thanks, Liana.

VISUAL: Rob Hulls speaking to camera.

Rob Hulls: And students, there's the message – there are a whole range of options when you're ...

VISUAL: Liana Buchanan looking at and listening to Rob Hulls who is off?screen whilst smiling.

Rob Hulls: ... finished your law course but if you want to make a real difference ...

VISUAL: Rob Hulls speaking to camera and smiling at the end.

Rob Hulls: ... consider working at a community legal centre.

VISUAL: RMITUniversity’s logo and website www.rmit.edu.au. This video features the audio Wild Bill available under a royalty free license.

End of video

Copyright statement

Copyright © 2014 RMIT University. All rights reserved.

Conditions of use

This item is available to RMIT University staff for official RMIT educational or promotional purposes. All uses outside of official educational or promotional purposes must be used with permission. Please contact copyright@rmit.edu.au for permission.