The Victorian Legal Assistance Forum promotes collaboration and co-ordination in the delivery of legal services for socially and economically disadvantaged people in Victoria.
Seasons Greetings from all of us at VLAF
VLAF staff will be on leave from 22 December 2011 until 23 January.
Plain language legislation key to quality legal information
New legislation is likely to have the most significant impact on the quality of legal information for the public, according to a Churchill Fellowship report by Joh Kirby, Victoria Law Foundation Executive Director and VLAF Main Forum member. Download the report here
VLAF Forum
Policy Forum points the way to policy wins
“There is no magic bullet” was the unofficial theme of the VLAF Policy Forum on 15 September 2011. This forum was initiated by the VLAF Policy Working Group. The working group aims to build capacity and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of policy work in the sector. The forum attracted many participants from Community Legal Centres, Law Institute of Victoria, Victoria Legal Aid and non legal organisations. An interesting group of panel speakers provided strategies, tactics and knowledge to the participants about undertaking policy and campaign work. More
VLAF Submission
VLAF submission to inquiry
VLAF Forum
Now you have a policy…what next?
Strategic campaigning – building capacity in the Sector
Date: Thursday, 15 September 2011
Time: 2.00 pm - 4.45 pm
Like all the organisations in the Sector, yours has vision, passion and commitment to law reform. You won the grant to do the research report that proves beyond doubt that you have the best response to a legal need. You have then crafted the perfect policy document. Now all you have to do is convince the Government to fund the project … Not so easy. This forum will give you the tools, skills and knowledge to start this work.
For more information download the flyer
CALD forum delivers legal education showcase
Grandparents in Moreland, newly arrived families in Shepparton, young people in Dandenong and Flemington and refugees in Thailand. What do they have in common? All were the focus of the presentations at the VLAF CALD community legal education forum held on 20 July at Victoria Legal Aid.
The Forum, entitled “Early Intervention is the way to go”, was attended by over 60 participants who were taken through a range of community legal education projects. The projects showcased good practice and methodology in legal education by presenters from VLA, Moreland Community Legal Centre, Springvale Monash Legal Service, AMES, the Department of Justice, and National Legal Aid. The attendees came from state and federal government departments, migrant and welfare agencies, the health sector, the courts, the private legal sector and even interstate guest from NSW LAF and the Law and Justice foundation, along with VLAF members and many CLCs.
More
Legal Referral Services - the best way forward in Victoria
The future of legal referral in Victoria was the hot topic at the latest Victorian Legal Assistance Forum (VLAF) held at the Lionel Murphy Centre on 22 June.
More than 50 people heard keynote speaker Jane Pritchard from Law Access in NSW speak about the balance of legal to non-legal staff, conflict checks, liaison on referral information across the sector, funding, evaluating the program, training and record keeping.
Law Access NSW is a free government telephone assistance service for people who live in that state and works closely with all the major stakeholders in the sector in providing relevant legal information, advice and referral. It assists 198,000 callers per year.
A panel discussion also conversed about a variety of issues including databases, staff composition (lawyers, para-legals, volunteers), and even the difference between information and advice
The event gave the VLAF Legal Referral Working Group plenty to think about in its efforts to provide Victoria with a system of referral that is robust, works in most cases and, most importantly, helps in the early resolution of the legal problems of our clients.
If you would like a copy of this forum on DVD please contact VLAF.
The steps to family reunion
Providing legal help to reunite young refugees with their families
The Victorian Legal Assistance Forum (VLAF) launched its ‘The steps to family reunion’ report on Monday 2 May highlighting its project supporting young refugees who need legal help to bring their families to Australia.
View details of the launch and view the VLAF Family Reunion Report.
Debt seminar launches VLAF forums for 2011
Dennis Nelthorpe speaking at the forum. (WMV Download)
Contact VLAF if you would like a copy of the DVD of this event.
View details of the Debt Seminar launch
Member organisations
- Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service Victoria
- Federation of Community Legal Centres
- Law Institute of Victoria
- Public Interest Law Clearing House
- The Victorian Bar
- Victoria Law Foundation
- Victoria Legal Aid
- Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
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