Providing legal services, advice and justice to people experiencing financial or other disadvantages.

Transcription

1 Providing legal services, advice and justice to people experiencing financial or other disadvantages. WestSide Community Lawyers Incorporated

2 1. PURPOSE and HISTORY 3 2. OBJECTIVES 3 3. WESTSIDE LAWYERS STAFF 4 4. BOARD OF DIRECTORS 4 WestSide Lawyers Staff 5. LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROVIDED 5 6. DUTY SOLICITOR SERVICE 6 7. PORT PIRIE and the LOWER FLINDERS RANGES 6 8. CLIENT CONTRIBUTION SCHEME 7 9. AFTER HOURS SERVICE COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITIES CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION 8 Legal Assistance Provided 12. CASE STUDIES FAMILY LAW PRACTICE COMMUNITY LEGAL EDUCATION RELOCATION OF THE PARKS OFFICE 11 Duty Solicitor Service Community Legal Education

3 WestSide Lawyers provides quality legal assistance to financially or otherwise disadvantaged people in Adelaide s western suburbs and the lower Flinders Ranges in South Australia. The organisation was established in 1979 with funding from the Legal Services Commission of South Australia and was incorporated in WestSide Lawyers continues its work thanks to funding received from both the South Australian and Commonwealth Attorney-General Departments. WestSide Lawyers has always maintained an office at The Parks Community Centre. In 2001, WestSide Lawyers formed an alliance with Anglicare SA and now has a well-established office in Anglicare s Family Centre in Hindmarsh. Since 2002, WestSide Lawyers has provided legal assistance to the residents of the Lower Flinders Ranges from our office in Port Pirie. 3 WestSide Lawyers seeks to enhance access to legal services and justice for people experiencing financial or other disadvantage by: 1. Providing, arranging for, or assisting in providing legal services to persons and community organisations; 2. Involving individuals and community organisations in recognition, understanding and solution of their own legal and related problems; 3. Assisting in, encouraging and fostering test cases and class action litigation; 4. Co-operating with educational authorities in the provision of legal education in the community; 5. Participating in law reform; 6. Co-operating and/or affiliating with organisations in Australia and elsewhere having similar objectives; 7. Encouraging the involvement of nonprofessional persons in the operation of WestSide Lawyers and its programs; and 8. Undertaking such other activities, which contribute to the resolution of the legal and related needs of individuals and families.

4 David Meyer, Lynch Meyer (Chairperson) David Bulloch, WestSide Lawyers (Managing Lawyer) Jonathan Munn, Hutt St Centre Helen Connolly, Inclusive Directions Paul Boylan, Boylan Lawyers Caroline Knight, Fox Tucker Lawyers Robert McDonald, PetroFrontier Corp. Ben Koziol, WestSide Lawyers (Staff Representative) Sebastian Hill, Boylan Lawyers WestSide Lawyers provides legal assistance by appointment during the following hours: The Parks Community Centre, Angle Park Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm Port Rd, Hindmarsh Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm Flinders Arcade, Port Pirie Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm Heather Mack, WestSide Lawyers (Staff Representative) WestSide Lawyers values the contribution of each Board Member and extends a warm thank you for the diligent and hard work undertaken by the Board over the last year. Norman Angus Tui Comas Tanya de Almeida Jack Hetzel-Bone Heather Mack Rebecca Sprigg David Bulloch Leanne Dahlenburg Victoria Finnie Ben Koziol Amra Sabou April Stenson Aaron Tydd 4

5 Representation Advice in half hour interviews Sideline Assistance with legal tasks and documents Representation Advice / Sideline Assistance in ongoing contentious matters WestSide Lawyers provides free legal advice upon request and sideline assistance with letter writing, document preparation and negotiations particularly in instances of a power imbalance between the parties. - Number of people assisted 1796 Legal rights mean little in the abstract. WestSide Lawyers provides ongoing legal representation to persons who meet the selection criteria: No alternative representation available Insufficient wealth to afford private representation Power imbalance between parties Real disadvantage if representation refused Legal merit - Ongoing representation matters at start of year New matters Closed matters Ongoing representation matters at end of year 196 5

6 A duty solicitor's primary role is to assist unrepresented people appearing in court. Priority is given to representation of people in custody for such applications as bail, pleas in mitigation of penalty on a plea of guilty... This service is usually offered where the person would be at a significant disadvantage without representation. Justice Gray in P v Police [2003] SASC 198 WestSide Lawyers services the Port Pirie and Peterborough courts. Many of those clients who are assisted in this way are in police custody and require immediate bail applications. In addition, the duty solicitor fields general enquiries from the public and appears for people with matters in the courts, and provides legal advice at the request of the Presiding Magistrate. In the past year we varied our service in Port Pirie so that the office in Flinders Arcade is now staffed by two full-time solicitors and a paralegal. Given the close-knit nature of the town and surrounding districts, referrals are received from several different agencies and government organisations including FRC Port Augusta, UnitingCare Wesley Country SA s several regional locations, Centacare, Families SA, Disability SA and mental health professionals. We attend at Peterborough, Kadina and Port Augusta on a regular basis for outreach services. We collaborate with many regional agencies and refer into those agencies clients who seek financial counselling, personal counselling and behavioural management. 6

7 The 2012 financial year saw a new development at WestSide in the client contribution scheme. Clients with any significant income or assets were previously deemed ineligible for ongoing assistance from WestSide as the result of a means test. However, we now recognise that those with a lower household income often cannot afford the cost of private legal assistance. As a result, a contributions scheme was introduced which allows clients who are not eligible for free service to engage WestSide on the basis that they contribute a proportion of their fees for service. A formula is used which takes into account income, assets and family size, and applies discounts of 25%, 50%, 75%, or 90% on a sliding scale dependent on the estimated length of the matter. This scheme allows WestSide to provide assistance to people in need who would previously have been turned away due to their income. Those who previously received free service continue to do so. Our new clients have received the contributions scheme positively and we are eager to see how this system develops in the future. WestSide Lawyers continues to offer a fortnightly evening advisory service at its offices in Hindmarsh. The central location and after-hours appointments allow new clients to better access our assistance. As the service has been operating successfully and busily for some time, we look forward to expanding to a weekly service in the coming months. The evening service is staffed by a rotation of private practitioners who volunteer their time and expertise. These solicitors provide valuable initial advice and refer clients to WestSide when ongoing representation is required. WestSide Lawyers thanks these solicitors for their efforts, without which the evening service would not be possible. 7

8 CASE STUDIES The Port Augusta Family Relationships Centre and WestSide Lawyers have a collaborative relationship to assist members of the public involved in family law disputes. The central role of FRC is mediation of matters involving residence and contact of children with their separated parents. The FRC provides information, advice and dispute resolution services to help the parents reach agreement on parenting arrangements without going to court and our lawyer attends at their offices to provide family law legal advice. The partnership between the FRC and WestSide aims to improve the current family law system. Specifically, it seeks to make more effective the role that lawyers play in assisting the work of the FRC to help separating families resolve their differences especially as they involve children. The staff at WestSide ensure that they are kept up to date with the ever-changing law by continued research and ongoing development. The staff have attended numerous Continuing Professional Development Programs throughout the year held by the Law Society of South Australia. Some of the sessions include: Law of Torts A Guide to Appeals in the Federal, Supreme & District Court Family Law Advocacy Series Unfair Dismissal Wills & Estates Commonwealth Fair Work Act 2 Years on Drafting Effective Pleadings Courtroom Advocacy Top 10 Things that Assist and Annoy the Bench Challenges of ADR Commercial and Contract Disputes Country Conference Berri Mental Competence Act s 269 Road Traffic Law Powers of Attorney & Enduring Powers of Guardianship Preparing a Brief for Trial 8

9 1) Mr A had been employed in a large public organisation for 25 years. During the course of a serious episodic psychiatric illness he tendered his resignation. WestSide contended that the resulting termination of employment was effectively dismissal by the employer. After two days of helpful medical evidence from three public sector psychiatrists at trial, the matter settled in favour of the employee. 3) Ms D was charged with assault and the matter proceeded to trial in the Magistrates Court. The police alleged that Ms D punched the complainant in the face whereas the defendant s case was that the complainant grabbed her and she then struggled to get free. At trial the defendant disputed the prosecution evidence and successfully raised self-defence. Ms D was acquitted. 2) Ms B is an intellectually disabled woman. She has received Centrelink benefits for the majority of her adult life, lives in a SA Housing Trust house, and struggles to pay her bills. Her brother died without making adequate provision for her in his will and we have lodged a claim in the Supreme Court for a larger percentage of the estate. WestSide has retained senior counsel in Adelaide who has offered to donate his time. We are working closely with Uniting Care Wesley and Life Without Barriers to support Ms B. 9 4) Ms C is in dispute with the leaders of a Christian sect, who sold all her assets and transferred the proceeds to the sect. After lengthy litigation arising from an action in undue influence and breach of trust, Westside succeeded in obtaining a default judgment against the defendant. The current issue before the District Court is to enforce the judgement, as the funds appear to be held by a third party. WestSide is investigating the joinder of this third party and continues to argue that the relevant bank account is properly subject to a resulting or constructive trust.

10 2012 has been another busy year in the 2012 has been another busy year in the Family Law section of the Adelaide office. First interviews for Family Law advice between March and October, for example, resulted in 231 kept appointments. An additional 111 follow-up appointments were made for further assistance in the same eight-month period, resulting in 342 appointments to see the Family Lawyer. Non-English speakers find it difficult to manage their own divorce applications especially when further documentation is required to explain why there is no Marriage Certificate or the steps they have taken to attempt to find their spouse to effect service of divorce papers. On-going matters involving children s issues are, however, our major focus. The number of legally represented clients with child related disputes has increased in 2012 as a result of the new contribution scheme introduced by Westside Lawyers. Apart from successfully resolving matters by way of Consent Minutes of Order, clients have also been provided with legal representation in the Federal Magistrates Court for both children and property issues, and in Family Law Conferences at the Legal Services Commission for children s matters when initial negotiations have failed. There are several children and property matters currently in the Federal Magistrates Court Trial list. The multi-cultural aspect of our divorce practice makes interesting work. Often parties who have married overseas do not have a Marriage Certificate or their spouses whereabouts are unknown. 10

11 WestSide Lawyers continues to welcome law students seeking work experience or requiring supervision for their Practical Legal Training placement. Students are able to experience and undertake a wide variety of legal tasks whilst working at WestSide Lawyers, including legal research, interviewing clients, providing assistance with advice and attending at court. We thank these students for their assistance and wish them a successful career. Our Port Pirie office has developed a close connection with several local welfare agencies and our staff have spoken to small groups from a number of community organisations. We worked closely with the National Association of Community Legal Centres to organise a forum for legal services from across the state. Representatives from community legal centres attended in Port Pirie from Mt Gambier, the Riverland and Port Augusta as did other members of the South Australian Association of Community Legal Centres. Presentations were given by attendees including a paper on Intervention Orders by one of our solicitors. The Parks Community Centre is to undergo major re-development, commencing next year. Certain buildings have already been targeted for demolition. The Adelaide office of Westside Lawyers is in one of these buildings and we have received notice to vacate by June Consequently, we are now in the process of finding suitable premises in the western suburbs within easy commuting distance of the Adelaide Courts. Several areas have been identified as potentially promising, including the area around the intersection of Henley Beach Road and South Road. Whilst it will be with some regret that we leave the very pleasant surrounds of our current address, with its park-like setting, wonderful bird life and great Vietnamese cafes, it is an opportunity for Westside Lawyers to find a more accessible location for clients, to increase our visibility by relocating to a major arterial road, and to move closer to the Adelaide Courts where we spend much of our time assisting our clients. 11

12 WESTWOOD Building 2 The Parks Community Centre Trafford Street Angle Park SA 5010 PO Box 2349 Regency Park SA 5942 Phone: (08) Fax: (08) HINDMARSH 184 Port Road Hindmarsh SA 5007 PORT PIRIE Flinders Arcade 72 Ellen Street Port Pirie SA 5540 Phone: (08) Fax: (08) Website: 12