Access to justice
Advancing access to justice is one of the principal aims of The Piddington Society.
While this takes many forms, the following provides initial pathways for individuals seeking legal advice and, further down, for lawyers wishing to engage in access to justice activities.
For individuals
The following are some resources to help individuals seeking low or pro bono legal advice. There are many more out there, but these can be. a good place to start.
Legal Aid offers free or low-cost legal services to the community. They can help if you have questions about the law, if you are going to court, or if you need advice on a legal problem.
They offer information, legal advice and representation, across civil, criminal and family law matters.
Access their services here > https://www.legalaid.wa.gov.au/
Community legal centres
Community legal centres play a vital role in helping people to resolve their legal problems at an early stage. Centres help everyday people and people experiencing discrimination and disadvantage with a range of problems, which means they don’t spiral out of control or create other problems.
Community Legal WA offers a directory of the 26 community legal centres which offer free or low-cost legal advice, which can be found here > https://www.communitylegalwa.org.au/pages/faqs/category/clc-location
Services are specialist and generalist. Specialist services cater for specific groups, such as homeless people or people with issues with government agencies like Centrelink. Generalist services cover particular locations like Fremantle and the southern suburbs, Geraldton and the Midwest and Midland.
Law Access is a pro bono referral scheme. They do not provide legal advice or representation but may be able to organise it.
Law Access assists individuals, non-profits and community legal centres.
Law Access matches applicants for legal assistance to lawyers. They provide a means-tested service designed to increase access to legal services where the application has legal merit and all other avenues of assistance have been exhausted such as Legal Aid WA, community legal centres and the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA.
Access their services here > https://lawaccess.org.au/
Law Society of Western Australia
The Law Society connects members of the public with the local legal profession and provides access to useful legal resources for the community.
The Society provides an extensive directory of services that may be of assistance.
Access to their services is available here > https://www.lawsocietywa.asn.au/legal-assistance/