Disclaimer: The material in this print-out relates to the law as it applies in the state of Victoria. It is intended as a general guide only. Readers should not act on the basis of any material in this print-out without getting legal advice about their own particular situations. Victoria Legal Aid disclaims any liability howsoever caused to any person in respect of any action taken in reliance on the contents of the publication.

We help Victorians with their legal problems and represent those who need it most. Find legal answers, chat with us online, or call us. You can speak to us in English or ask for an interpreter. You can also find more legal information at www.legalaid.vic.gov.au

How we support community legal information

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This guidance is for community legal centres and other organisations that make community legal information. It explains how we make decisions about working together on community legal information and how to ask us for support.

Community legal information is general information about the law, legal processes and referrals. It can help people understand their rights and responsibilities, how the legal system works and where to get help.

Community legal information comes in many formats – videos, fact sheets, webpages and more.

Victoria Legal Aid, community legal centres and other organisations develop community legal information in response to community needs.

Why work together?

Victoria Legal Aid is responsible for co-ordinating community legal information across Victoria. We must ensure it is:

  • current
  • accessible
  • high quality
  • available across enough legal topics.

This responsibility comes from the Legal Aid Act 1978 (Vic). It does not apply to Aboriginal legal services, but we welcome opportunities to work with these services on community legal information.

We also have a duty to consult with people who make and give out community legal information. Your insights and expertise can help inform our decisions. We have expertise in planning, developing, distributing and evaluating community legal information resources. We follow robust processes and guidelines to ensure accuracy and quality.

We value community legal centres’ close connections to community. They are well-placed to identify legal needs. They also have expertise in planning, developing, distributing and evaluating community legal information. We often collaborate with community legal centres on community legal information resources and projects.

We are also open to working with other organisations that make, or would like to make, community legal information.

What support can we give you?

We will consider any request for support with community legal information.

For example, we may be able to support you by:

  • collaborating on projects to develop new community legal information
  • providing feedback on project plans
  • advising on plain language and accessibility
  • editing and proofreading
  • sharing tools and resources to help you make community legal information
  • publishing or linking to your legal information
  • promoting your resources on our social media channels.

How will we decide if we can help you?

We will consider any request for support. We may also reach out to you to offer our support.

We aim to be flexible and find ways to help.

We will consider:

  • Does this respond to an unmet legal need?
  • Is the format appropriate for its audience?
  • Will this resource be accessible?
  • Is this a priority topic or audience?
  • Do we have capacity to do this work?

We will consider whether the resource addresses a gap in legal information available for the community. This could include tailoring existing information to meet the needs of a different audience.

We are interested in any evidence that you have about these needs. For example, anecdotal evidence from clients or community workers, or data that illustrates an emerging need.

Is the format appropriate for its audience?

To be effective, community legal information must match the legal capability of its audience. ‘Legal capability’ means the knowledge, skills, attributes and resources that someone has to understand and resolve legal issues. This includes knowledge of the law, literacy, digital access and organisational skills.

This also means that the format of your resource must be appropriate for your audience. For example, if you are making a resource for people who cannot access the internet, you might consider a print format. Or if you are making a resource for people with low literacy, you might consider a video format. Many legal assistance organisations involve people with lived experience of that legal issue to guide the format and content of their resources.

We are interested in the format you choose and how that will match the needs of your audience.

Will this resource be accessible?

Victoria Legal Aid must comply with minimum standards around plain language and accessibility. For example, we cannot publish a PDF document unless it is also available in HTML or another accessible format, such as Word.

We can talk to you about accessibility and may be able to help you make your resource more accessible. We are more likely to provide support for community legal information that will meet our accessibility standards.

For more information about plain language and accessibility, visit our webpage Making community legal information or contact us.

Is this a priority topic or audience?

We will consider requests for support on any legal topic for any audience. However, we may be more likely to support, or provide more intensive support, for community legal information that aligns with our priorities.

This includes resources to help workers assist and refer priority clients who are likely to have legal problems.

Our National Legal Assistance Partnership Agreement lists priority groups who are more likely to experience legal problems and barriers to getting help. This includes:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
  • children and young people
  • older people
  • people experiencing or at risk of family violence
  • people experiencing or at risk of homelessness
  • people in custody
  • people residing in rural or remote areas
  • people who are culturally and linguistically diverse
  • people with a disability or mental illness
  • people with low education levels
  • single parents.

For more information about our priorities, read our Client priority and capability policy and our four year plan, Strategy 26.

Do we have capacity to do this work?

We may have competing priorities and commitments that influence our capacity to support your community legal information. These could affect the timing or extent of our support. Sometimes it is hard for us to support work with short timelines, so please contact us as early as possible.

How to ask us for support

We welcome any requests for support. We may also reach out to you to offer our support.

To request our support with community legal information, please contact us.

We often agree to provide support informally by email. Sometimes, we will meet with you to better understand your work and how we can support it. For complex work, we may ask to work with you on a project plan to clarify our roles and responsibilities.

For community legal centres, we already have documents that guide our relationship. These are our Partnership Principles and Community Legal Services Program Service Agreement. For other organisations, we may develop a memorandum of understanding to confirm how we will work together.

Contact us

Please contact us if you have queries, feedback or would like to work together on community legal information.

Email cle@vla.vic.gov.au or call (03) 9269 0234 and ask for Community Legal Education.

For updates on our resources and activities, subscribe to our Community Legal Education Update.

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