Community Legal Centres offer a range of legal and other services depending on what your legal issue is. Their staff will be able to tell you exactly how they can assist you. They may:

·         Provide you with advice

o   CLCs have ‘in-house’ lawyers who can provide you with legal advice about your case and explain your options.

o   These lawyers may also assist you by drafting court documents such as:

§  writing a letter of demand;

§  preparing your affidavit; or

§  drafting an application.

o   There are limited circumstances where these lawyers will be able to represent you at court or at a tribunal.

o   They may be able to give you ongoing advice and support throughout your case.

o   Some CLCs have student clinics where advanced law students can also provide advice to clients.

·         Make a referral to another lawyer

o   The CLC staff may decide that your legal case is best sorted out with the assistance of an external lawyer.

o   Many practising lawyers take time out of their private work to give pro bono legal assistance to those in need. Your CLC will have a list of private lawyers that they can refer your case to.

o   The lawyer will then take your file from the CLC and they will become your legal advisor.

·         Assistance

• Referral to other services
  • The CLC may tell you that your issue falls outside their capacity or mandate.
  • In this situation they will help you to find another source of help.
  • It may be a different CLC or it may be a non-legal support service.
• Self-representation service
  • Some CLCs also offer a self-representation service.
  • In these cases the CLC will provide you with help and guidance so you can represent yourself in court rather than being represented by a lawyer.
• Community legal education
  • CLCs run community legal education programs for the wider community to raise awareness about legal issues and to educate people about the justice system.
• Policy Reform
  • In some cases the CLC may see that your legal problem is because of an unfair law or that there are also a lot of other people who have experienced the same problem.
  • They CLC may decide to do some research to support policy reform to change the unfair law.
  • This type of assistance takes a lot of time as trying to change law and policy is a long process.