Annual Report 2005—2006 - Inner City Legal Centre

Co-Chairs’ ReportThe Inner City Legal Centre continues to adapt and grow in areas of directclient need and in response to broader social security and employmentreforms, such as WorkChoices, the national workplace relations system thathas already stimulated increased demand for employment law advice andassistance.Demand for specialist legal advice, education and case work for gay, lesbianand transgender people is also growing. There is a disjunction between thereal lives and relationships of people and the legal system’s partial andinconsistent recognition of them.We have continued to develop specific publications and present communitylegal education forums to help our volunteer solicitors, students and clientsto navigate the legal system. We have published a range of fact sheets on ourwebsite on issues including powers of attorney, victims compensation, wills,and gay, lesbian and transgender discrimination.Love, Loss and the Law is a new resource collaboratively developed with A.O’Hare Funeral Directors. It identifies unique legal issues that can arisewhen a same sex partner dies. The Centre’s Principal Solicitor, Natalie Ross,continues to lead in case work, community education and in contributing toa number of submissions and resources including Sex and the Lawproduced by FPA Health.The Centre mobilised this year to establish a twelve month community legaleducation project called the Womens Employment Rights Project (WERP) inresponse to the sudden closure of the Working Women’s Centre, a vitalspecialist employment advice and advocacy service for women in NSW.WERP aims to provide employment law advice and training to communityadvocates and organisations assisting women across the state. It will alsomonitor the impact of WorkChoices on NSW women particularly in theareas of unfair or unlawful dismissals, Australian Workplace Agreements(AWAs) and discrimination.This year we welcomed Pat McDonough and Julie Venamore to the newWERP project – both very experienced and skilled in women’s employmentissues and in community education. We also welcomed Guy Noble to theposition of generalist solicitor. Guy came from Macarthur Legal Centrewhere he worked predominantly in industrial and DV matters. This year ourlong standing volunteer coordinator and author of many of the Centre’s newresources, Susie Grey, left the Centre to begin her legal career. We thankSusie for her work with us and wish her all the best.Inner City Legal Centre Annual Report 2005—20065