Law Student Volunteer Experiences

 

Searching for a Volunteer Position 

Jenna Molan, Law Student and Intern at the Federation of Community Legal Centres

I started my Law/Arts degree in 2006 at La Trobe with the vague motivation that I wanted to have a career where I could help people. Because of this, I had been a volunteer since my school days in different areas  that interested me; I volunteered in environmental groups, assisted in aqua aerobics classes for people with disabilities and assisted with fundraising events for social justice groups. I had been a junior member of the Law Students Association at La Trobe in my first two years, and I was also a member and volunteer for Liberty Victoria, This combined with work, study and a social life kept me busy.

When I returned from exchange in 2008 I felt that it was time to seek a volunteer position that was based in the legal profession. I sought a position to gain experience, which would serve the dual purpose of helping me decide if I wanted to pursue a career in Law, and to also assist me later if I applied for “real jobs”.

I used the NACLC website as a guide to apply to CLCs to volunteer. Their community focus really appealed to my ideals of justice, especially providing access  for those who could not afford traditional legal representation. Over three months I applied to about 20 of the CLCs listed on the website, and only heard back from one within the week of applying. This came as quite a shock to me because I had assumed that there was a great need for volunteers at CLCs as I had found in other volunteering opportunities. I quickly learnt that, on the whole, this was not the case.

I considered my applications and decided to target a few CLCs that I really wanted to work at. I called them and emailed them, to which I received a varied response, but unfortunately none of which lead to a volunteering opportunity.

I was invited to attend volunteering information sessions at the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre (ASRC), which ran every Tuesday night for four weeks. At the end of this I applied to their legal volunteering department, which then required me to sit a test on refugee law. I wasn’t accepted into their legal volunteering which was disappointing given the time I’d committed to the process.

However, I ended up coordinating and teaching an English for Hospitality Course at the ASRC which has been a really enjoyable and rewarding opportunity. I may internally apply again for the legal volunteering program at a later stage, but at the moment I like what I am doing.

I continued to search for legal volunteering opportunities, but discovered I did not have that much time I could offer anymore. I continued to monitor and apply for appropriate legal volunteering opportunities over the next year or so. At one point I began volunteering as a researcher for a legal submission, but found that it never really got off the ground for various reasons.

I applied for the Clinical Legal Education program at La Trobe a couple of times, and was accepted for semester 1, 2011. I nominated to volunteer at the Federation of Community Legal Centres because of my interest in community law and public interest law. So far, it has been really rewarding and eye opening. The work I’ve done has included researching for the Smart Justice campaign and answering phonecalls from people seeking legal help and referring them to the right CLC, legal aid or elsewhere. I’ve also got to tag along to meetings and go to parliament with members of the Federation, which has been really interesting.

When searching for a volunteering position, I have learnt that persistence is the key. It is a good idea to use any networks that you have to put in a good word for you, or to speak to a person at an organisation that you are volunteering at so that you become more than just a CV to them.

While the search for a volunteering position can be tedious and disheartening, don’t give up. The actual experience of volunteering is so rewarding that it makes up for the challenges of finding an opportunity.

 

 

City CLC law student volunteers in the dry season in the Kimberley

Amanda Thompson, Law Student and  Administrator at the Federation of Community Legal Centres

The first inkling I had that volunteering at the Kimberley Community Legal Service was going to be a very different experience was when a sweaty backpacker in Darwin decried the ‘Telstra Monopoly’ and said I would have to get a new mobile phone because nothing but Telstra worked up there. She also made a point of warning me not to go out alone at night. Needless to say I was a little apprehensive as I boarded the bus for the 9-hour journey the next day.

I travelled up to the small remote town of Kununurra in the Kimberley region of Western Australia to volunteer for three weeks in July. As soon as I arrived at the office I was up to my elbows in files and all the lovely staff wanted to know how I had ended up spending my holidays so far away from anywhere!

I spent the first week wading through dozens of applications for Redress WA, the ex gratia compensation scheme for children who were abused and neglected in state care. All the applications administered by KCLS were for Indigenous members of the stolen generation. A very high turnover of staff at KCLS contributed to the Redress files literally being found all over the place and I quickly found myself promising to never, ever, ever neglect file management. The whole experience of piecing together the files was extremely saddening. I read through excruciating stories detailing terrible abuse and neglect, which in some cases had never been voiced before.

Over the next two weeks I attended a three day outreach trip to the small town of Halls Creek, and became familiar with the trials of driving through remote Australia i.e. if you don’t have a Bullbar on your car prepare to be squished by a cow or kangaroo. The brand new Principal Solicitor had so much on her plate, including a complete overhaul of the office filing system, that I, the law student who had attended her first client interview while on outreach, was given a stack of client files to deal with. I was soon searching through court records, calling clients and writing all types of correspondence. The prose I picked up at law school was predictably useless, especially when faced with explaining to a possibly illiterate elderly aboriginal about the small fortune of fines imposed on them as a result of mandatory driving sentences.

In addition to the great work and new learning experiences I was exposed to in the office, the generosity of new friends meant I was able to travel around and see some of the beautiful Kimberley sites. We climbed deep-red rock ridges, swam in icy water at the base of spectacular gorges and scanned the lakes with our torches in the dead of the night to find crocodile eyes. The strict alcohol laws amused the hundreds of tourists who clogged the entry to Liquorland at 5pm sharp every evening as full strength beer became available. But the laws also served as a poignant reminder of the entrenched alcoholism and rampant crime experienced by the town.

The whole adventure was really just brilliant. All the staff at the office were fantastic and were so appreciative of the work I did. I felt like they didn’t want me to leave. The whole time I was there no one mentioned any other volunteers and then I think about CLCs in Melbourne turning law students away because they can’t fit them in! It feels like such a waste when regional and remote centres are crying out for more support - if you have the time, you should definitely head up there.