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Volunteering at the Federation

The Federation does not have any volunteer placements currently available, other than those operated through specific university subject placements.

University subject placements:

We currently offer internship opportunities to law students through the following university subjects:

Melbourne University legal internship

Law students from Melbourne University can apply to undertake an internship with us through the Melbourne University Law School Careers Office. Details of the internship, including key selection criteria, are available through the Careers Office.

La Trobe University – Public Interest Law Practice placement

Law students from La Trobe University can apply to undertake an internship with us through the Public Interest Law Practice subject.

Victoria University – either Law in Practice 1 (Courts & Community) or Professional legal practice

Law students from Victoria University can apply to undertake an internship with us for the purpose of one of these subjects, by sending an application to the relevant subject co-ordinator. Details of the internship, including key selection criteria, are available through the subject coordinators. We can take students during semester 2 only.

Other Universities

We have yet to establish placement programs with other universities. We will update this website as this occurs.

We don’t conduct a legal practice and cannot provide College of Law or Leo Cussen placements. Please see our About Us page for more information on our role.

General intern selection criteria

The following criteria generally applies to law students wishing to undertake a university placement with us. Please refer to your subject coordinators for selection criteria specific to your subject placement.

Introduction

We are keen to get enthusiastic people on board who:

have a strong interest in working for social justice;
want to contribute to the work undertaken by the community legal sector;
want to contribute to addressing sources of social disadvantage through law reform, campaigns and advocacy;
want to engage with the Victorian community, the community legal sector, the non-profit sector and government in working towards achieving positive social change.

Key intern duties

We want interns to experience what goes into achieving social change and to develop the skills involved in doing this work. Volunteers will:

take calls from community members seeking legal help and make referrals to appropriate legal services;
undertake research tasks for the Executive Officer and Policy Officers;
undertake administrative tasks, including coordinating meeting room bookings and maintaining our library;
Update our community law website and assist with our newsletter;
attend, contribute to and take minutes of working group meetings;
contribute to drafting submissions to government inquiries;
proof read and edit reports and submissions drafted by Federation staff; and
assist the sector development manager in organising events and training, updating our toolkits, and collating evaluation reports and other data relevant to the community legal sector.

Key selection criteria

In your application we would like to hear about your previous work experience and skills relevant to undertaking law reform campaigning on behalf of the disadvantaged, including:

demonstrated social justice interests (including through research and volunteering);
In addition to your law studies other studies or degrees relevant to social justice work (for example, criminology, gender studies etc);
writing, research and analytical skills;
skills relevant to providing administrative support to a dynamic team;
strong communication skills; and
any other information you consider relevant to the key intern duties.