Kingsford Legal Centre

Kingsford Legal Centre is an Australian not-for-profit legal centre. It is part of the network of Australian Community Legal Centres and also provides clinical legal education as part of the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law. It provides free advice to the residents of the Botany and Randwick local government areas, in subjects such as employment law, debts, victims compensation and domestic violence, as well as providing a statewide service for discrimination matters.

Kingsford Legal Centre
HeadquartersGround Floor, Law Building, The University of New South Wales, Kingsford, Sydney, Australia
No. of lawyers5 employed plus secondees, volunteers and interns
No. of employees11
Major practice areasClinical Legal Education, Community Legal Centre: Botany Bay LGA, Randwick LGA, employment law and discrimination law
Key peopleAssociate Professor Anna Cody, Director
Date founded1981
Websitehttp://www.klc.unsw.edu.au/

It is funded by the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales and supported by Herbert Smith Freehills, and has won many awards and honours for its work.

Description

Founded in 1981, Kingsford Legal Centre is a community legal centre, which also provides clinical legal education as part of the UNSW Faculty of Law.[1]

It provides free advice, referrals and ongoing assistance to the residents of the Botany and Randwick council areas, in areas such as employment law, debts, victims' compensation and domestic violence, as well as a statewide service for discrimination matters. It takes on cases where there is no other source of assistance or where acting for the client will benefit the community by achieving change in the law or government policy.[2][3]

Funding and partnerships

Kingsford Legal Centre receives funding from the Community Legal Services Programme of the New South Wales Legal Aid Commission,[1] the Commonwealth of Australia through the Attorney-General's Department (Commonwealth Community Legal Services Program, Clinical Legal Education and Family Law)[4][5][6] and the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law.

It has a partnership with Herbert Smith Freehills who provide a solicitor on secondment for six months twice a year.[7][8][9]

International presence

Kingsford Legal Centre has appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Committee in New York[10] and The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the United Nations Office at Geneva as an NGO.[11]

Publicised cases and advisings

In 1982, the centre was consulted by the Ethnic Communities' Council of New South Wales after the New South Wales Board of Senior School Studies made an error in the marking of the Higher School Certificate Modern Greek examination which had caused a number of students to miss out on their choice of university admissions.[12]

The Centre took up Australia's first legal claim by a member of the stolen generation.[13][14][15]

In 2002, Kingsford Legal Centre successfully represented a mother who had suffered workplace discrimination on the grounds of family responsibilities. This case was one a "series of legal victories by trailblazers" in 2002 which clarified the "law protecting working women's rights".[16]

In 2003, Kingsford Legal Centre were instructing solicitors in a case before a Full Bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission which "strengthened the rights of thousands of workers who are labelled casuals, but who are effectively permanent part-time staff."[17] A waitress who was engaged by an employer hotel as a casual employee was held to be a "regular and systematic" employee: casual employees were not entitled to sue for unfair dismissal under the then federal law but the ruling gave her, and a large number of persons in similar circumstances, access to redress for unfair dismissal.[17]

Awards and honours

The Kingsford Legal Centre, its staff and volunteers have won a number of awards and accorded various honours. These include:

  • in October 2011, Michael Steinfeld won the Community Legal Centres NSW (CLCNSW) Award for his 27 years as a volunteer at the Centre[18]
  • in September 2011, Emma Golledge, Principal Solicitor, Kingsford Legal Centre was named the Woman Lawyer of the Year in a Community Organisation by the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales[19]
  • in March 2010, Merinda Dutton, a Teaching Assistant at the Kingsford Legal Centre, won a John Koowarta Reconciliation Law Scholarship[20]
  • in October 2007, Anna Cody, Director, Kingsford Legal Centre, was the recipient of the 2007 Government or Community Lawyer Award from the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales[21][22]
  • in 2001, the Kingsford Legal Centre team won the 2001 Australian Award for University Teaching for Law and Legal Studies sponsored by The Australian and funded by the federal Government to recognise outstanding efforts in university teaching[23]
  • in 1996, the volunteer lawyers, Kingsford Legal Centre were named co-winners for the Randwick district of the Herald Australia Day Awards for Community Service 1995[24]

Reality Bites: Street Practice

In 2004, the ABC broadcast a four-part television series, Reality Bites: Street Practice[25] which followed a number of young law students undergoing their clinical legal experience at the Kingsford Legal Centre.[26][27]

Publications

The Kingsford Legal Centre publishes a number of information pamphlets describing its services and outlining key points of common legal advice, an e-Bulletin and other publications including:

  • Clinical Legal Education Guide (to courses offered in Australian Universities), (2014, Kingsford Legal Centre, Sydney)
  • Guide to Indigenous Legal Education (2nd ed. 2010, Kingsford Legal Centre, Sydney)
  • David Nichols, From the Roundabout to the Roundhouse – 25 years of Kingsford Legal Centre, (2006, Kingsford Legal Centre, Sydney) ISBN 978-0-9775289-2-9
  • Getting off the Referral Roundabout: Effective legal referral (DVD and workbook) (2006, Kingsford Legal Centre, Sydney) ISBN 978-0-9775289-1-2
  • Discrimination Toolkit : Your Guide to Making a Discrimination Complaint, (2007, Elizabeth Evatt Community Legal Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre and Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales, Sydney) ISBN 978-0-646-47-262-1

Notes and references
  1. Joanna Mather, "Education Pro bono a bonus for law students", Australian Financial Review, 6 June 2011, p 28 via Media Monitors Australia Pty Ltd and factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  2. "Kingsford Legal Centre". Access to Justice. Commonwealth of Australia. Archived from the original on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  3. Bernard Lane, "UNSW shows the law is an asset", The Australian (All-round Country edition), 12 November 2008, p 23, via factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  4. Guy Healy, "Law students to staff justice clinics", The Australian, 10 March 1999, p 41, via factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  5. Australian Government, "Australian Attorney-General announces additional fund to develop, expand Varsity partnerships" (press release), 8 January 2010, copyright of HT Media Limited via factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  6. "The Community Legal Services Program". Legal Aid. Australian Government, Attorney-General's Department. Archived from the original on 28 November 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  7. James Eyers, "Man of steel and compassion", Australian Financial Review, 19 June 2009, p 46, via Media Monitors Australia Pty Ltd and factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  8. "Vale Keith Steele (6 April 1951 – 7 June 2009)". Freehills. Freehills Pty Limited. 11 June 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  9. Vickie Smiles, "Services for the needy", The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 March 2006, p 6 (Supplement)
  10. James Eyers, "Lack of domestic legislation could hamper bid for seat", Australian Financial Review, 20 March 2009, p 43, via Media Monitors Australia Pty Ltd and factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  11. "Non-Governmental Organizations address Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on situation in Brazil, Australia and Cambodia", States News Service, 4 May 2009 via factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  12. Andrew Casey, "HSC losers ask for cash: Marking error cost students' courses", The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 May 1982, p 1 via Google News accessed 14 November 2011.
  13. Williams v Minister, Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (Unreported, Supreme Court of NSW) 25 August 1993; Williams v Minister, Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 [No 1] (1994) 35 NSWLR 497; Williams v Minister, Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 [No 2] (1999) 25 Fam LR 86; Williams v Minister, Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 [No 3] (2000) Aust Torts Reports Page 81-78.
  14. Rafael Epstein, "Stolen Generations case result", Australian Broadcasting Commission PM Archive 26 August 1999, accessed 14 November 2011.
  15. Debra Jopson, "Stolen Generation Damages Case Rejected", The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 2000, p 6, via factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  16. Sherrill Nixon, "Trailblazers pay 'in blood' for legal action on rights", The Sydney Morning Herald (online edition), 30 September 2002 accessed 14 November 2011.
  17. Sherrill Nixon, "Casual Staff Rights Bolstered By Waitress's Legal Win", The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 September 2003, p 5 via factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  18. "Justice Awards". Law and Justice Foundation. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  19. Alex Boxsell, Rachel Nickless and Samantha Bowers, "Women honoured", Australian Financial Review, 30 September 2011, p 42, via Media Monitors Australia Pty Ltd and factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  20. Law Council of Australia, "Indigenous Scholarship Winners an 'Inspiration'" (media release), 19 March 2010 via Australian Associated Press Pty Ltd and factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  21. Hearsay column, Australian Financial Review, 26 October 2007, p 54 via Media Monitors Australia Pty Ltd and factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  22. "NSW Women Lawyers Achievement Awards, 2007 Awards Winner and New Patron". Women Lawyers' Association of NSW. Women Lawyers' Association of NSW Inc. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  23. Ian Gerard, "Plaudit for outstanding legal effort", The Australian, 12 December 2001, p 24, "The staff of Kingsford Legal Centre have won the 2001 Australian Award for University Teaching for Law and Legal Studies. ... Part of the University of NSW, the centre gives final-year law and social work students the chance to start using their skills for the benefit of the community before they graduate. Students spend time at the centre as part of clinical legal experience offered by the law faculty. The only legal centre attached to a university in NSW, the centre provides legal advice in domestic violence, discrimination, housing, employment, family and criminal law issues. Kingsford is headed by director Frances Gibson; the other award winners include centre co-ordinator Michelle Burrell, Anna Cody, Kate Burns, Vedna Jivan, Kalliope Ktenas and Joanne Moffitt. ... In awarding the prize, the panel of judges commented on the outstanding commitment and teamwork shown by the winners."
  24. Adam Harvey, "Drop-in Centre For Desperate Youth Wins Acclaim", The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 January 1996, p 7
  25. A Hilton Cordell production, Producer/director/camera Michael Cordell, Producer Ian Collie. "Street Practice". Reality Bites. ABC.
  26. Ben Wyld, "Reality Bites: Street Practice, ABC, 8pm", The Sydney Morning Herald (online edition), 7 September 2004, "Studying law involves wading through mountainous case studies and analysing hypothetical scenarios involving multi-million-dollar companies. Here, 23 students from the University of NSW get a taste of the real thing as they begin a 14-week stint at the university's community legal centre. This fly-on-the-wall series captures the experiences of the wide-eyed students as they apply their knowledge to real cases for the first time. ...
  27. Kerrie Murphy and Evan Williams, "Tuesday—Quick Bites" (review), The Australian, 18 September 2004, p B44, via factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
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