St Kilda Legal Service Annual Report 2006-2007 - Community Law

Thirty Four Years of the ServiceThe First YearThe St Kilda Free Legal Service, as it was knownat its inception, began informally in 1971, but itwasn’t until 1973 that the Service began to recruitvolunteer solicitors. At the first meeting on 4thApril 1973, “more than 40 legal men” attended tohelp set up the Service, which would hold advicesessions two nights a week.The Legal Service was part of the new St KildaCommunity Group that was set up to providewelfare services to the community, includingfamily planning, chiropody, marriage guidanceand welfare referrals. The St Kilda Legal Servicewas one of the first community legal centres (CLC)to be established in Victoria.St Kilda Community Group, now known as thePort Phillip Community Group, held its first AGMin August 1973, for which a Chairman’s annualreport was written (by Richard Thomas) andincluded a summary on each of the services theCommunity Group offered. A summary on the StKilda Legal Service was included in the report,which is below:An exciting development of the last couple of yearshas been the growth in the provision of legal aidservices for those of limited means. The SteeringCommittee was keen to incorporate some sortof legal aid service in the Centre and this hasnow been a reality for a number of months. Thescheme involves the co-operation of qualifiedlawyers, law students and some enthusiastic laypeople. The formative stages were also smoothedby the efforts of Marion Scow, Helen Hollidayand of Anna Haslett … There are now four legalaid services, to my knowledge, operating in themetropolitan area. We are pleased and proud tohave one in St Kilda. This is a suburb with a verygreat need for this type of service. The very highnumber of deserted wives, single parents andsimilar people results in a higher than averageneed for basic legal advice. Many of our residentssimply cannot afford professional assistance andso, without this service, they would remain inignorance of their legal rights and opportunities.The level of need is very simply demonstrated bythe fact that the Legal Aid Service is now operatingon two evenings each week and is usually handlinga capacity demand of some fifteen cases persession. Although some points remain to be ironedout by those running the Service, such as the exacttype of cases which may in future be handledbeyond simply the advice stage and the methodof funding, they have already come a long way.There are many grateful local citizens who wouldjoin me in thanking this dedicated band of men andwomen for providing this service and making ourdimension of service that much wider.At first, few people realised the free Legal Servicewas available, but demand increased dramaticallybetween June and November 1973 and an urgentcall for further volunteers was published in thelocal newspaper, the Southern Cross.With the Service’s popularity came the need fora more efficiently operated Service, and four lawstudents (Barry Berger, Alan Rochman, Sam Chizikand Joe Katz) were given the task of developing astructure to ensure the ongoing coordination anddevelopment of the Service. These volunteerswere crucial to the ongoing operations of theService in its early developmental stage.Thirty-four years ofAchievementsThe Service commenced as an unfundedorganisation, staffed entirely by a group ofvolunteers. It continued on a volunteer basisfor a number of years with small funding grantsfrom the then St Kilda Council and with ongoingsupport from the St Kilda Community Group.In February 1980, the Service was registeredas a Co-operative and became officially knownas the St Kilda Legal Service Co-Op. Ltd.The Service became a separate entity from theSt Kilda Community Group and a Boardof Directors was appointed to oversee themanagement of the Service, which is how theService is still run today.Katie TuckerSKLS day service volunteerInka AlexanderSKLS Monday night volunteerPierre BaumeSKLS Monday night volunteerAnnual Report 2006 – 2007