Community Legal Services
Monash was the first law school in Australia to incorporate Community Legal Services into its teaching programs. Currently, the Monash Law Faculty runs two Community Legal Services. The Monash-Oakleigh Legal Service, which includes the Family Law Assistance Program, is located just outside the western border of the University's Clayton Campus. The Springvale Monash Legal Service, including the South East Centre Against Sexual Assault, is located in the South-Eastern Melbourne suburb of Springvale. The Springvale service is now the oldest continually running community legal service in Australia. Among the students who were first to participate in the program in 1973 include the current Chief Justice of Victoria Marilyn Warren and current Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Tony D'Aloisio.
These centres operate to provide free legal services and education to meet the needs of the community. They are supervised by full-time and part-time qualified legal practitioners, but are essentially run by law students at Monash. Working at one of these centres for a semester or a summer is part of the Law School's Professional Practice units, which count towards the Monash Bachelor of Laws. Student volunteers undertake a range of responsibilities, including interviewing clients, negotiating with other parties, letter drafting, preparing wills and court documents, and appearing in court on their client's behalf. Although most tasks are carried out by the students, they are under the supervision of practising solicitors. The Centres provide legal advice in areas such as criminal law, employment law, debt and family law. They also produce publications on law reform.
Since Monash's establishment of Community Legal Services in the early 1970s, similar programs have been introduced at other Australian law schools, such as the University of New South Wales
Read more about this topic: Monash University Faculty Of Law
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