Kingsford Legal Centre is an Australian not-for-profit legal centre which opened in July 1981. It is both part of the network of Community Legal Centres

Community Legal Centre

Community Legal Centres are independent organisations aiming to advance legal–and, by extension, social and political–equality by making the law accessible to the poor and otherwise marginalised in Australia. They provide legal advice to individuals and take on traditional casework...

 and provides clinical legal education as part of the University of New South Wales

University of New South Wales

The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 Faculty of Law

UNSW Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law of the University of New South Wales is a law school situated in Sydney, Australia. The Faculty is one of the most innovative and prestigious law schools in Australia....

.

It provides free advice and referral and ongoing assistance to the residents of the local area between Botany

Botany, New South Wales

Botany is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Botany is located 10 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the City of Botany Bay....

 and Randwick

Randwick, New South Wales

Randwick is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Randwick...

 in areas including: employment law, debts, victims compensation and domestic violence as well as a state wide service for discrimination matters. The Centre takes on cases where there is no other source of assistance or where acting for the client will benefit the community by achieving change in the law or government policy.

Funding and partnerships

Kingsford Legal Centre receives funding from the Community Legal Services Programme of the New South Wales Legal Aid Commission, the Commonwealth of Australia through the Attorney-General's Department (Commonwealth Community Legal Services Program, Clinical Legal Education and Family Law) and and the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law (using fees from "full-fee-paying domestic undergraduates").

It has a partnership with Freehills

Freehills

Freehills is a commercial law firm that operates in the Asia-Pacific region. In Australia it is considered one of the 'Big Six' law firms.-Offices:Freehills has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane in Australia...

 who provide a solicitor on secondment for six months twice a year and with Allens Arthur Robinson

Allens Arthur Robinson

Allens Arthur Robinson is a commercial law firm that operates in the Asia-Pacific region. In Australia, and throughout the Asia-Pacific region generally, it is considered to be one of the top commercial law firms.- Offices :...

 who provide a solicitor on secondment for six months each year.

International presence

Kingsford Legal Centre has appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Committee in New York and The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets three times a year to consider the five-yearly reports submitted by UN member states on their compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights...

 of the United Nations Office at Geneva as an NGO.

Publicised cases and advisings

In 1982, the Centre was consulted by the Ethnic Communities' Council of New South Wales after the New South Wales Board of Senior School Studies made an error in the marking of the Higher School Certificate Modern Greek examination which had caused a number of students to miss out on their choice of university admissions.

The Centre took up Australia's first legal claim by a member of the stolen generation

Stolen Generation

The Stolen Generations were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments...

.

In 2002, Kingsford Legal Centre successfully represented a mother who had suffered workplace discrimination on the grounds of family responsibilities. This case was one a "series of legal victories by trailblazers" in 2002 which clarified the "law protecting working women's rights".

In 2003, Kingsford Legal Centre were instructing solicitors in a case before a Full Bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission

Australian Industrial Relations Commission

The Australian Industrial Relations Commission, or AIRC , was a tribunal with powers under the Workplace Relations Act 1996. It was the central institution of Australian labour law...

 which "strengthened the rights of thousands of workers who are labelled casuals, but who are effectively permanent part-time staff." A waitress who was engaged by an employer hotel as a casual employee was held to be a "regular and systematic" employee: casual employees were not entitled to sue for unfair dismissal under the then federal law but the ruling gave her, and a large number of persons in similar circumstances, access to redress for unfair dismissal.

Awards and honours

The Kingsford Legal Centre, its staff and volunteers have won a number of awards and accorded various honours. These include:

• in October 2011, Michael Steinfeld won the Community Legal Centres NSW (CLCNSW) Award for his 27 years as a volunteer at the Centre

• in September 2011, Emma Golledge, Principal Solicitor, Kingsford Legal Centre was named the Woman Lawyer of the Year in a Community Organisation by the Women Lawyers’ Association of New South Wales

• in March 2010, Merinda Dutton, a Teaching Assistant at the Kingsford Legal Centre, won a John Koowarta Reconciliation Law Scholarship

• in October 2007, Anna Cody, Director, Kingsford Legal Centre, was the recipient of the 2007 Government or Community Lawyer Award from the Women Lawyers’ Association of New South Wales

• in 2001, the Kingsford Legal Centre team won the 2001 Australian Award for University Teaching for Law and Legal Studies sponsored by The Australian and funded by the federal Government to recognise outstanding efforts in university teaching

• in 1996, the volunteer lawyers, Kingsford Legal Centre were named co-winners for the Randwick district of the Herald Australia Day Awards for Community Service 1995

Reality Bites: Street Practice

In 2004, the ABC broadcast a four part television series, Reality Bites: Street Practice which followed a number of young law students undergoing their clinical legal experience at the Kingsford Legal Centre.

Publications

The Kingsford Legal Centre publishes a number of information pamphlets describing its services and outlining key points of common legal advices, an e-Bulletin and other publications including:

• Clinical Legal Education Guide (to courses offered in Australian Universities), (9th ed. 2009, Kingsford Legal Centre, Sydney)

• Guide to Indigenous Legal Education (2nd ed. 2010, Kingsford Legal Centre, Sydney)

• David Nichols, From the Roundabout to the Roundhouse - 25 years of Kingsford Legal Centre, ((2006, Kingsford Legal Centre, Sydney)

• Getting off the Referral Roundabout: Effective legal referral (DVD and workbook) (2006, Kingsford Legal Centre, Sydney)

• Discrimination Toolkit : Your Guide to Making a Discrimination Complaint, (2007, Elizabeth Evatt Community Legal Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre and Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales, Sydney)

External Links

Kingsford Legal Centre Homepage

Community Legal Centres NSW Homepage